SUPERMARKETS around Swan Hill have been left with empty shelves as residents and visitors continue to panic buy and stockpile household staples.

What begun as a toilet paper shortage, demand for serviettes, paper towel, wipes and hand sanitizer have also "skyrocketed" in the past few weeks.

Basic food items including dry rice, pasta and flour are also running short while frozen food products have also been targeted in Swan Hill.

Yesterday morning, ALDI chief executive officer Tom Daunt announced new purchasing restrictions "to assist shoppers to access the essential products they need".

The German-owned discount supermarket chain has decided to "temporarily" restrict purchases on toilet paper to one unit per customer, dry pasta (two units), flour (two units), dry rice (two units), paper towel (two units), tissues (two units) and hand sanitiser (two units).

"All Australians deserve access to groceries and we are working extremely hard to deliver on this promise," Mr Daunt said.

Mr Daunt said appropriate steps were also being taken across the store network to ensure employees "remain comfortable during this time" and violence towards staff is "absolutely unacceptable".

"We ask our customers to remember to show kindness, empathy and calmness when shopping with us. This means civil behaviour, courtesy to those less able and respect for the employees of retail outlets," he said.

"We won't tolerate anything less. We understand your concerns, but buying more than is needed can mean that others will be left without."