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Singapore. Shoppers at the Cold Storage outlet in Jalan Jelita, near Holland Road, have been getting zaps of static electricity along the aisles lately.

They have been jolted while pushing their trolleys, when picking up items from the shelves and even when brushing against other people in the store.

Gery Lim, a 40-year-old executive, flinched in surprise as she reached for a tin of canned food. She felt the same sharp, tingly sensation when her fingers grazed the shelves.

'Even though not everything I touched gave me shocks, this should not be the way to shop - they need to look into it,' she said.

Just to be sure of that, she filed a complaint.

Cold Storage confirmed it had received feedback about this from about 10 shoppers in recent weeks, and has taken steps to put a stop to the unpleasant surprises.

It has, for example, reduced the dryness of the air in the store by installing humidifiers, said a spokesman.

By the end of this week, the air-conditioning will be tweaked to raise humidity levels and step up the intake of fresh air.

Anti-static strips will also be mounted on all trolleys.

All electrical equipment and power outlets in the supermarket have been thoroughly rechecked and found safe.

Cold Storage also encourages shoppers at its Jalan Jelita outlet to notify the store's customer service if they experience static.

The feedback will be used in its investigations if there are more static incidents at the store, said the spokesman.

The Jalan Jelita branch has just come through a refurbishment to install energy-saving lighting and chillers, and is now billed as the supermarket chain's first green supermarket.

The spokesman said the green features are not the cause of the static, and that the fixtures and trolleys used in the Jelita store are the same as those used in all other Cold Storage branches.

Other shoppers are shrugging off the shocks.

Teacher Chrissie Ong, 37, said she has also experienced static at a FairPrice supermarket and a Daiso store at the IMM shopping mall.

'It's very common. I've experienced this before,' she said.

She added: 'Perhaps it's because it's too cold. It's much colder in Cold Storage Jelita than other Cold Storage outlets I've been to.'

Professor Liew Ah Choy of the National University of Singapore's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering said: 'This is not surprising at all. Maybe their air-conditioning causes the air to be too dry.'

He explained that in places where the air is dry and humidity is low, electrical charges tend to build up.

He added: 'The charges cannot dissipate, and when someone touches the surface, these are discharged to cause a static shock.'

Shoppers who do not use the store's trolleys seem to be spared the unpleasant zaps.

Angie Moore, 37, who is self-employed, said she is at the supermarket almost daily, each time pushing her five-month-old son in his pram, while her domestic helper wheels the shopping basket they take along with them from home.

Shoppers who carry the supermarket's baskets also experience no trouble.

Checks with other supermarkets here found that static shocks have not been a big problem.

A Carrefour spokesman said: 'This is the first time I have heard of such a thing. We have not had any customer feedback on static shock.'


Reprinted courtesy of Straits Times Indonesia. To subscribe to Straits Times Indonesia and/or the Jakarta Globe call 021 2553 5055.