Douglas Shire residents are stocking up before Tropical Cyclone Ita crosses the far north Queensland coast with supermarkets in Mossman and Port Douglas ordering in extra supplies.

Woolworths Mossman store manager Shane Wight said business has spiked since Wednesday evening.

Mr Wight said essential cyclone supplies were common items in most customer's trolleys. 

"People are getting candles, batteries, water, milk, tinned vegies and all that kind of stuff," he said. 

"It's been a lot busier than our normal trade that's for sure. 

"People are just trying to stock up as much as they can."

Mr Wight said new stock was replenishing the supermarket shelves on a daily basis but the high demand for bottled water was difficult to meet.

"We're trying to get in as much water, milk and ice as we can but it's easier said than done," he said. 

"We've got stuff coming in every night, it's just a matter of how much and predicting what customers will be after." 

Cornetts IGA in Port Douglas received 31 pallets of food on Friday morning.

Store Manager Denzel Bignoux said eight of those pallets contained bottled water.

"We're going reallly well we' haven't run out of water," he said.

"Yesterday was busier than the day before Christmas but we were pretty proactive in what we did and we've got stock coming in just in time. 

"I've been through a couple of cyclones before and we made sure we were ready."

Mr Bignoux said the supermarket is well stocked and that further supplies will continue arrive to should weather and road conditions be safe enough. 

The supermarket has kept predominantly Port Douglas-based staff in the lead up to TC Ita crossing. 

Closing time will depend on weather conditions. 

"At some point we'll have to shut," Mr Bignoux said. "At that point, we'll just gather the trolleys, secure everything and go."

Mr Bignoux said during mass flooding in far north Queensland in 2009 he helped arrange for stock to come up on barges into Cairns and Port Douglas.

"That was our idea," he said.

Port Douglas Coles store manager Jason Smith said meeting the demand for bottled water had been his biggest challenge.

"We have stock here," Mr Smith said. "We are a little low on water but we have a delivery coming every day so no need to panic buy.

"We have extra fruit coming in and extra water being shipped up from Brisbane.

"We're even keeping water further south in case of road closures, so we are prepared."