Countdown has declared the 'Great Toilet Paper Shortage of 2020' officially over.
The supermarket chain is lifting its limits on the packs of paper gold, saying it's no longer seeing shelves wiped clean of the product.
Countdown merchandise general manager Steve Mills says limits are being taken off most products to help enable people to shop less often. Exemptions for that will include alcohol, flour, rice and baked beans, he said.
"New Zealanders were simply buying more than they needed and flushing their normal shopping habits down the drain," Mills said.
"Throughout the lockdown, we’ve been reminding people of two key things. Number one: only buy what you need. And number two: to shop normally - there is plenty of toilet paper to go around.
"We're really pleased that customers have listened to this advice and are using up what they've got in the cupboard. This means the pressure on our toilet paper supply has eased."
When New Zealand's first case of COVID-19 was reported at the end of February, products such as toilet paper, bread and flour became hot commodities.
Before the country moved to COVID-19 alert level 4, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern urged Kiwis not to sink into a panic-buying frenzy, although supermarket shelves were still stripped bare throughout New Zealand.
However, the situation didn't appear to escalate to the extent it did across the ditch. Early last month, a violent brawl broke out in a Sydney supermarket over a single pack of toilet paper, prompting a callout and arrests by the local police.
In another incident, a 50-year-old man was tasered after assaulting a staff member and fellow customer in a dispute over toilet paper.
