Unless you were already living under a rock, you’ll know that going to the shop to pick up some essential items like toilet roll or pasta might result in a bit of a shock. Because in many cases, they’ve simply not been there.

The UK government has announced that there is no shortage of food in the UK, and advised against panic buying amid the coronavirus pandemic, but prior to this others have been left without the household essentials they needed most.

Now, a store in Denmark has come up with a crafty idea to prevent people from stockpiling hand sanitiser and we’re here for it.

This Twitter user shared the shop’s little trick – to sell one bottle of hand sanitiser spray for 40 DKK (£4.92/$5.73) which seems reasonable. However, a second bottle would cost customers 1,000 DKK (£123/$143).

Dubbing the idea ‘genius’, one person wrote: “Magnificent idea! We should do this in UK… but we could apply it for toilet roll, cans of soup, pasta…the essentials lol.”

Another added: “Agreed! I live in San Francisco, Ca. People here have been panic buying for the last couple of weeks… I was at the grocery store yesterday and there were entire aisles that had been wiped out completely… nothing but empty shelves with little signs that the store had… I think this is a brilliant idea!”

A third replied by tagging some of the UK supermarkets. She wrote: “Brilliant. Simple yet innovative. We need more innovative ideas to prevent the current empty shelves. Are our complacent supermarkets taking note? @sainsburys @asda @tesco @waitrose @AldiUK”.

The shop in question was Hellerup Foodmarket, who took to Facebook to explain: “We have a great responsibility to keep the business running, and we can only do that with everyone’s help and understanding. I can help in the following way.

“We ask all customers to respect the distance between each other and our co-workers. Sprinkle (likely sanitise or wash) hands off at the entrance and use gloves. If you are a family, please allow only one person to purchase the purchases if possible.

“There may be times when we limit how many customers we accept in the store at one time. We will keep you informed about any operating changes on Facebook. Take care and thank you for your understanding.”