JOHOR BARU: Several pharmacies are seeing a slight decline in face mask sales since the lifting of its mandatory use in indoor public areas.

Pharmacy supervisor Siti Syaza Mohd Jamil said there had already been a downward trend in sales since the government made it optional for the public to wear it in outdoor settings.

“We have seen a gradual drop in face mask sales since May, when it was no longer compulsory for the public to wear it outdoors.

“This became more obvious with the latest announcement that the use of face masks in indoor public areas is also no longer compulsory.

“While the decline in sales came slowly, it is pretty significant compared with the past two years.

“Instead of buying boxes of face masks, people now prefer to buy just a few pieces,” she said when met at the pharmacy here in Taman Nong Chik.

She said her pharmacy was also ordering less stock from suppliers to avoid overload.

“This is a huge contrast to the beginning of the pandemic, when face masks were selling like hot cakes. Before the border was closed in March 2020, we had customers, including Singaporeans, buying in huge quantities.

“At one point, we had to limit the number of face masks that customers could buy so that everyone had a chance to buy them,” she added.

Pharmacist Loh Hui Ping said although sales had slowed down slightly, people were still buying them.

“The only difference is that now they are buying fewer masks per purchase. Where consumers used to grab three or four boxes of face masks, now they will just buy one box,” she said.

Another pharmacist, who only wanted to be known as Tan, said face mask sales would likely drop further in the next few months.“For now, we are seeing a slight drop, but it is not as significant as we expected. People still prefer to mask up as they are used to it. Maybe in the next few months, we will see more changes.

“We are also serving customers from Singapore who buy face masks during their visits,” he said.

A face mask store operator at Lalaport shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur, known only as Zul, said he observed fewer buyers the weekend following the announcement.

“On previous weekends, I would usually see a lot of people coming to buy masks. But since the announcement, fewer people were here today,” he said.

Malaysian Pharmacists Society president Amrahi Buang said any decrease in sales was expected, depending on how the public reacted to the more relaxed mask ruling.

“Based on feedback from our members, sales are still stable and not affected by the recent announcement. We do expect it to decline after some time,” he said.

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2022/09/16/masks-no-longer-selling-like-hot-cakes