Some of Bahrain's most popular shopping malls will remain closed for a third successive day today as a result of the continuing unrest.

The Bahrain City Centre, Bahrain Mall, Marina Mall and Dana Mall were all closed yesterday, while Seef Mall shut down yesterday afternoon.

All are expected to remain closed until further notice, although a spokeswoman for Bahrain City Centre said officials would review its status today.

Most supermarkets outside the central Manama area were packed full of anxious consumers yesterday afternoon following the declaration of a three-month state of emergency.

Midway chief executive officer for retail and development Khalid Al Amin said business was running more or less as normal, but revealed logistical issues had restricted some deliveries.

'Some deliveries were affected by the closure of Sitra bridge but we've been able to cover with stocks from Saudi Arabia,' he said.

'The foods are there, the deliveries are coming in. The only problem for us is that our logistical company at the port are not operating at the moment.

'We have enough stock to last for a month-and-a-half or two, but if the situation continues after that we may have a problem.

'The stores have been busy but not too busy and we're not running out of stock.'

It was a similar situation at Jawad Supermarkets, according to Jawad Group retail general manager Jawad Mahmood Jawad.

He confirmed a slightly higher number of consumers, but said there was no danger of stores running low on stocks.

An Alosra Supermarkets spokesman said its stores were trading as normal and received its deliveries as expected yesterday.

He said stores were busy, but not noticeably more than expected.

However, a Western expatriate, who visited the supermarket yesterday afternoon, described the scene as 'like Tesco on Christmas Eve'.

'There was no milk, no bread and no orange juice, people were panic buying and filling up trolleys as much as they could,' he told our sister newspaper Gulf Daily News (GDN).

The petrol station adjacent to the Budaiya store was also without petrol for the second successive day. Lengthy queues faced motorists at the Sanad petrol station while the queues at the A'ali petrol station stretched as far as the Shaikh Isa bin Salman Highway.-TradeArabia News Service