While people are staying home and watching SARS news stories and movies about epidemics, they're also not going to restaurants.
"Lots of consumers don't want to eat out, so they're buying more prepared foods like lunch boxes, cold noodles and so on," said Wang Wen-shin (
At 7-11s around the island, lunch box sales are up 15% since the beginning of the SARS epidemic.
But the chain's hottest product is vitamins, which have seen sales triple in recent weeks. Appreciable sales growth has also come from personal health products including chicken broth drinks, green tea powder and bee nectar as well as hygiene products like rubbing alcohol and other disinfectants.
"Also, since people don't want to run around town or take the MRT, they're using our home delivery service more," said Wang.
The service provides same day delivery of a 60cm cubic package -- something about the size of a cake box -- anywhere in Taipei for NT$110.
But if anyone's bucking the trend, it may be Taiwan's expatriate population. When Nancy, a bar tender at the local expat watering hole DV8, was asked if people had stopped coming for fear of SARS, she replied, "Not foreigners. Only local people have stopped coming out."
"Foreigners aren't afraid of death. But Taiwanese are really afraid of death," said Timmy, bartender at Watersheds, which is also popular with expatriates. It's also possible that foreign residents are compartmentalizing their fear. "I haven't taken the MRT in two weeks," said Michael, sitting maskless among strangers at DV8's wooden bar and sipping a beer.
Another patron, John, commented, "Actually, I think DV8's busier than normal. Maybe everybody's coming here to get away from SARS."
And after saying so, he changed the subject.
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