Calls for Dunedin supermarkets to stop selling Russian beer may be proving successful, with one store no longer stocking the drinks.
Last week it was discovered New World Centre City and New World Gardens were still stocking a range of Russian beer as competitors moved to boycott the beverages over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Hundreds of shoppers took to social media to express their feelings, some calling for boycotts of the supermarkets while others said the stores could sell what they pleased.
One boycotting customer, who did not want to be named, said she did so to support the Ukrainian community.
There was no point in boycotting if the store did not understand why, so she entered New World Centre City and asked if Russian beer was still being sold.
Staff told her the shop no longer sold the products.
Ukrainian expatriate and invasion protest organiser Olha Viazenko said the change might not seem like much, but it mattered.
She was happy to hear people had boycotted the stores.
"Small things can make a big change."
The group would continue speaking to other stores to try to convince them to stop selling Russian products, she said.
Foodstuffs New Zealand head of co-operative public affairs Emma Wooster said its stores were individually owned and operated, meaning local owners could make decisions about many of the products they offered.
New World Gardens and New World Centre City had not added any Russian beers to their ranges recently but had both continued to sell the product they already had in stock.
Recent customer feedback on the range of beer offered at the stores had been extremely minimal, she said.
Last week Centre City stocked Baltika, 3 Hills Beer and Siberian Crown, none of which could be found on the shelves this week.
