About 50 wayward sheep have broken off from their flock and stormed a discount supermarket in German town, startling and delighting customers as they rushed to explore the aisles before being escorted from the premises.

The woolly incursion occurred on Monday during a routine seasonal migration of the farm animals in the Bavarian municipality of Burgsinn. A few dozen of the sheep had other ideas about the route and made their way into a store of the Penny retail chain.

“It was impossible to tell whether the sheep were looking for something particular on offer or just wanted to warm up,” the company said in a statement, noting that the flock seemed particularly fond of the checkout area where shoppers and staff were present.

Witnesses said that while the animals resisted the urge to nibble their way through the fresh produce on display, their foray into the store left a path of destruction in the drinks section as their bustling knocked glass bottles and other products from the shelves.

Video showed the sheep bleating but otherwise looking more curious than anxious amid the detritus.

“The approximately 20 customers present reportedly took the spontaneous animal visit in their stride,” said Philipp Stiehler, board chair of the Penny subsidiary in south-west Germany.

After about 20 minutes, the sheep were coaxed out the door and quickly rejoined their flock. Even the German embassy in London couldn’t resist a pun-filled post about the fluffy new mascots.

“50 runaway sheep ram-paged through a German supermarket in rural Baa-varia, causing shear mania on Monday morning,” it posted on X. “After breaking away from their 500-strong herd, the brazen sheep spent 20mins milling around in the Penny supermarket before ewe-turning and seeing themselves out.”

Stiehler dismissed speculation Penny planned to bill their shepherd for the damage or cleaning costs, with the company instead seizing on the nationwide media attention and viral posts to say it wanted to sponsor feed for the 50 runaways for a year.

Dieter Michler, the shepherd, told public broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk he had been taking 500 sheep – ewes with their lambs – to their winter shelter. He guesses at least some of the 50 animals were distracted by acorns on the ground, leading the others astray as they lost contact with the rest of the flock.

Then, he said, “someone must have walked into the supermarket with a bag and they followed,” seeing something that to them could have resembled concentrated feed or a sack of salt, which are used to feed the sheep.

“I wouldn’t have thought it possible that they would voluntarily walk into the supermarket,” said Michler.

A customer drove to catch up with Michler and the rest of his sheep and told him about the escaped animals’ unexpected excursion. By the time the herder arrived they were back in the car park after staff made loud noises to shoo them out of the supermarket.

Michler said the animals were doing well after the excitement. “As soon as they were with the flock they were happy again,” he said.