When do you think grocery shopping will have a sense of normalcy again?

[jdb in AZ]

My niece in the Seattle suburbs said grocery stores in her neck of the woods have returned to normal -- they even have toilet paper.

 

[fly girl]

I'm off I-71 near Louisville. I went Thursday morning to return some stuff at ours. Went in for a couple non-TP or cleaner things. Oh the lines to check out! Moved fast. Our schools announced closing Thursday afternoon (Boone was before that, right?) So Friday was the crazy day. Our groceries were kind of picked over but they're starting to catch back up with the restocking.

Yes, Boone announced Wednesday evening.
Word on street was that the majority of Boone parents were not happy. (@Donzie, your kids attend BCPS, right?) I think what fueled the fire was the length, over a month, and being the first in our area. It’s typical the other 2 NKY counties follow suit (Kenton, Campbell), but they didn’t. However, after Thursday’s announcement by DeWine with ALL Ohio schools, and then Friday’s announcement by Beshear, it just solidified they were ahead of the curve. Boone is still out the longest so far (I believe), at April 20th, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the two weeks mandated in KY gets extended. My feeling was Beshear was trying to ease people into the new reality, learning from Boone County’s reaction and from the state of Ohio at 3 weeks. Cincinnati had a forewarning from Boone, so DeWine’s announcement wasn’t the complete shock as Boone’s was in our area.

 

[Julie's Haircut]

Hopefully by the middle of this coming week. Sure, there will still be shortages and out-of-stocks of some items, but the mad frenzy of wiping out entire aisles and cases will hopefully subside.

DD went to the higher priced Acme instead of Shop Rite, Giant, Costco or Walmart and she says things are much better there. They even had some toilet paper. They also had plenty of these items too.

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I also went to Acme Friday evening for their "Buck a Bag" produce sale. Other than Lysol spray and wipes, rubbing alcohol, and maybe a few other items, everything was in stock although somewhat sparser than normal. Nothing else was wiped clear like I heard was the situation in many other stores. They had plenty of the produce I wanted.

Toilet paper aisle was around 1/4 full. Certain brands were out of stock, but product was available.

Last night I went to Walmart to return a pair of jeans I bought a week ago. The parking lot looked like the normal amount of cars. Then I browsed around to survey the damage. Yikes!! Pasta, soup, rice, water, all paper products (except plates and cups), canned veggies, meats, milk, etc. empty or close to it. Just a few oddball brands or varieties remaining.

The only things I needed were body wash and fake sugar. Both were available.

 

[dclpluto]

DD went to the higher priced Acme instead of Shop Rite, Giant, Costco or Walmart and she says things are much better there.

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yep I don’t know how acme stays in business with their very high prices. I won a 100 gift card at work to acme. It was outrageous high the 102 dollars of stuff I got would of been about 70 dollars at ShopRite.

 

[mombrontrent]

I’m a manager at a grocery store, so I’ve been in the front lines of chaos, we are a small town family owned grocery store and we have been absolutely slammed. Its really hard on all our staff. We are working as hard as we possibly can to get the products out there in the shelves, all our cashes were running throughout the whole day open to close to try and get customers through as quickly as possible. It’s mentally exhausting for all the employees to just be in that chaotic environment all day.

The main issue is no one was prepared for this. Stores did not anticipate this huge influx of customers over the past few days and did not order accordingly. Shelves were empty because we did not anticipate that people would be hoarding so we didn’t order enough product to re stock the shelves. It will take a few days for stores to order and receive shipments and get that product back on the shelves but it will happen. Normally we can anticipate what will sell based on advertisement sales, previous year sales, ect but no one was prepared for this this time.

And yes right now us and every store in the area is out of toilet paper. We had customers waiting an hour yesterday for a truck to arrive that carried four cases of the 100 we ordered. The things we have witnessed

 

[Turn the Page]

So DH's morning update from is store is odd. He doesn't normally go in on Sundays but had to today.

He said he didn't have words to describe what he is seeing. He is out of so many things. He is totally out of clorox wipes and spray, toilet paper, and hand sanitizer. The bread aisle is nearly empty and produce is completely out of a lot of things. The dairy manager said if I wanted milk to get it when I was in yesterday because she wasn't getting another truck until Tuesday. He is going to have to adjust the store hours next week to give departments time to catch up.

 

[Kitty 34]

I’m a manager at a grocery store, so I’ve been in the front lines of chaos, we are a small town family owned grocery store and we have been absolutely slammed. Its really hard on all our staff. We are working as hard as we possibly can to get the products out there in the shelves, all our cashes were running throughout the whole day open to close to try and get customers through as quickly as possible. It’s mentally exhausting for all the employees to just be in that chaotic environment all day.

The main issue is no one was prepared for this. Stores did not anticipate thus huge influx of customers over the past few days and did not order accordingly. Shelves were empty because we did not anticipate that people would be hoarding so we didn’t order enough product to re stick the shelves. It will take a few days for stores to order and receives shipments and get that product it back on the shelves but it will happen. Normally we can anticipate what will sell based on advertisement sales, previous year sales, ect but no one was prepared for this this time.

And yes right now us and every store in the area is out of toilet paper. We had customers waiting an hour yesterday for a truck to arrive that carried four cases of the 100 we ordered. The things we have witnessed

Thank you for your perspective.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

I went to Aldi yesterday, got there right after they opened. It was pretty nuts in there. People were hoarding canned goods, and of course TP was all gone, along w/paper towels disappearing quickly. I got everything that was on my own shopping list though.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

Well, all of the major chains are reducing hours of operation, so not for a while in that regard. As to the shelves being stocked adequately - that should be soon. Most Americans have now completed their panic shopping, or will have very soon. Most do not have enough money to keep building stock in their homes. So the peak is probably behind us and we should start to see normalcy in that regard very soon.

 

[MamaLema]

I live within 5 minutes of 6 different grocery stores.
I have already stocked up on items because we are a large family and food doesn’t last that long anyway.
Forget toilet paper...All the stores were empty of the following:
Rice
Potatoes
Onions
Garlic
Pasta
Pasta sauce
Chicken
Beef
Dry and canned beans
Bread except for yucky bread like malt rye
Apples

 

[BuckeyeBama]

I live within 5 minutes of 6 different grocery stores.
I have already stocked up on items because we are a large family and food doesn’t last that long anyway.
Forget toilet paper...All the stores were empty of the following:
Rice
Potatoes
Onions
Garlic
Pasta
Pasta sauce
Chicken
Beef
Dry and canned beans
Bread except for yucky bread like malt rye
Apples

Most of that is perishable - people planning to freeze all that stuff?

 

[skyblue17]

The grocery stores here in NYC are busy and things are coming off the shelves, but not to the point as I've seen in non-urban areas. I have a couple of theories as to why that is, but I'm glad to know that if I truly need items, there are items to purchase since no one is filing up their entire basement with stuff they don't actually need. We even still have toilet paper!

As for normalcy, I think the not knowing is what is causing this. People don't know if they will be able to continue to leave their homes, either due to illness or stores closing. They don't know how long they might be inside. I'm of the mind that closing most non-essential businesses would be best now, and reassuring people that grocery stores and pharmacies and whatnot will stay open and that the supply chain will be functioning. It's the assumption that if you don't buy it now, you're out of luck that is causing this reaction, and keeping items out of the hands of people who might truly need them but could not get them on the same timeline or in the same quantity as those buying out the place.

 

[RedAngie]

yep I don’t know how acme stays in business with their very high prices. I won a 100 gift card at work to acme. It was outrageous high the 102 dollars of stuff I got would of been about 70 dollars at ShopRite.

About 6 years ago I won "Free Groceries For A Year" with Acme's Monopoly Game. It turned out to be 52 individual $100 gift cards. I gave about 1/4 of them away as gifts and it took about two years to use up the rest. (I also had to pay income tax on that $5200.)

Yep, I could have purchased way more merchandise at Shop Rite than I could at Acme for the same dollar amount. Acme does have some good sales occasionally, but I only do about 10% of my shopping there.

The Acme near me is reasonably busy, but I bet Shop Rite's sales exceed it by 3 to 1 or more.

 

[mckennarose]

The main issue is no one was prepared for this. Stores did not anticipate this huge influx of customers over the past few days and did not order accordingly. Shelves were empty because we did not anticipate that people would be hoarding so we didn’t order enough product to re stock the shelves

This goes along with what I've been saying since our stores starting running out of things a week ago.

Aside from people hoarding out of fear, we've been told to have food and supplies for at least two weeks time, if we are quarantined. When you have a percentage of a city's population all trying to get the same necessary items for 14 or more days, per person in the house, at the same time, it is way more than grocery stores have ordered or can handle. It's understandable that supplies are low, but not completely due to people hoarding.

Add to that the fact that a lot of states are closing all schools, from pre school to college, and you now have more people using supplies in each household, which requires more supplies. Plus the parents who don't have child care arrangements and are also now having to stay at home, again drives up the amount of supplies per day. Not even figuring people sick or quarantined at home who would otherwise be at work.

Now the need for 200 rolls of toilet paper, I can't completely understand. But the lack of general foods/supplies, I can understand.

One of my children works part time at a grocery store and said it's very quiet today. Especially compared to yesterday and Friday.

 

[Hikergirl]

Just got back and things were pretty normal for a Sunday morning, even had toilet paper on the shelves.
We have confirmed cases here but it looks like the initial panic is over.

 

[China Expat]

The stores in So Cal continue to be ravaged. We are good in our home for this week, but not beyond that. I guess we can do a Blue Apron food delivery service if need be.

 

[RedAngie]

Just got back and things were pretty normal for a Sunday morning, even had toilet paper on the shelves.
We have confirmed cases here but it looks like the initial panic is over.

Good to hear.

I don't need anything at the moment, but was planning to go Tuesday or Wednesday to pick up some perishables, like produce and deli.

 

[Snowysmom]

I suspect once people feel comfortable that they have stocked up enough that things will calm down. I went to Market Basket yesterday and it was actually quieter than a normal Saturday. Of course there were empty shelves and no TP but the staff was so busy checking customers out and bagging their groceries for the past few days that they did not have time to keep up with stocking the shelves. Although they did put out more TP whenever they received a shipment. I have to pick up some deli turkey on Tuesday so I can scope out the store then. I was surprised that the store was out of was onions. Who is hoarding onions?

 

[pryncess527]

The grocery stores in my area appear to have halted all online orders for the next 7 days.

 

[dish rag]

A few days.