RTL received photos on Monday morning that had been taken at around 6pm on Sunday evening at the PallCenter in Oberpallen. They showed several empty shelves, particularly in the fruit and vegetable section.
The reason was quickly speculated to be so-called "panic buying" following a heavy concentration of smoke over the country from the large forest fire in Belgium. In that context, several warning SMS messages had also been sent out via LU-Alert.
Asked about the pictures, Anne van Wetteren of the shopping centre in Oberpallen said the empty sections could not be put down to panic buying. Several other factors, she explained, had come together to drive up the demand.
To begin with, many shops in the area had been closed due to the public holiday on Saturday, which meant that more shopping than usual was done on the Sunday.
On top of that, a large number of Belgians had headed home from their holidays over the weekend, since school will soon be starting again on the other side of the border. Many of them took advantage of the fact that the store in Oberpallen was still open until 7pm on Sunday evening.
This happens year after year, when Belgians stop off to do their shopping in Luxembourg on their way home, though this year the shelves ended up emptier than in previous years.
The shopping centre has since reacted and has asked its supplier to arrange weekend re-deliveries in future, whenever demand looks set to spike again.
