Shopping and restocking updates

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DMV area:

Went out early this morning. local Walmart out of TP, had about 10 packages of paper towels and a dozen packages of flour.

Then went to Costco. I was on line at 7:30 for their 8am-9am Old Folks Shopping Hour :). the parking lot was still very empty. I was the 23rd person on line. They OPENED EARLY - at 7:40, when the line was about 50 people long, they started letting us in. IT WAS A TP PARADISE! several pallets wth toiler paper packages stacked 6 feet high. I humorously mentally felt like Scrooge McDuck diving into a pile of gold coins. Everyone was calm and not rushing. The limit was 2, but i observed almost everyone just buying 1. I saw them stop one person at the register who had 4 and remove 2 of them.

Other than hand sanitizer and paper towels, everything else seemed well stocked. I left at 8:07, and saw the parking lot was very full. A couple asked me how I was able to get out so quickly, I told them about the early opening and they were upset. I did assure them that in all likelihood they could still get what they needed so they hurried off.


I bought Costco gas, still no signs of gas shortage. The price was down to $1.69.
 
Western NY...
Walmart this morning. Actually looks almost normal. Shelves are starting to look stocked again. There was even TP (sign says only one package). Got some haddock, and chopped meat for a meatloaf. Hope these are signs of an improvement.
 
I've given up. It doesn't matter if you're part of the early crowd or later in the day, certain food items just haven't returned, or if they have, shoppers are snapping up as much as they are allowed. People in the Cedar Park / Leander, TX area have lost their collective minds. Most act like their shopping visit may be the last time they will ever see some of these food items.
 
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My county in Pa just got added to the 'stay-at-home' list (certain outings like food shopping and exercise allowed) last night, so I expect panic buying today. Since ANY announcement regarding the cov19 results in more panic buying, apparently. And 'normal' folks who will rush out and buy in order to beat the panic buyers to the store. Reminds me of a concept called 'pluralistic ignorance' they taught us back in Psych 101. (not exactly but similar)
 
I've occasionally heard the military refer to it as the National Capital Region, but I've never before heard DMV (and both the young wife and I went to college and lived there).

Anyway, back on topic, I plan a grocery run for tomorrow mid-morning for fresh vegetables, milk and other perishables. I do try to second guess the herd. Last week, I guessed correctly and the store was almost empty of customers with plenty of remaining stock except for TP, pasta and a little low on meat. We'll see how it goes tomorrow. I've heard that the wealthy are fleeing NYC for their "country homes" in CT. There are a number of those in my town, so that could change the shopping dynamic.
 
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Gumby said:
Anyway, back on topic, I plan a grocery run for tomorrow mid-morning for fresh vegetables, milk and other perishables. I do try to second guess the herd. Last week, I guessed correctly and the store was almost empty of customers with plenty of remaining stock except for TP, pasta and a little low on meat. We'll see how it goes tomorrow.
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Just returned from Aldi's and had that same experience (got there about 10:15am). Lots of canned goods. Lots of fresh produce. Store was orderly and not very crowded. Every one was respectful of distance.

Will hit Fresh Thyme either early afternoon, or tomorrow morning. That should do us for 5-7 days.

St. Charles County MO
 
NOCO Costco... (Northern Colorado, Timnath to be precise).

Yesterday early afternoon, shortly before stay at home was announced. Previously had the 10 person limit, no bars, restaurants take out only, etc.

Only item they were out of that we wanted was eggs. Also out of paper products and sanitizer usually mentioned (we were well stocked before this all started). Got fruit, meat, granola, some frozen pizzas, etc. Not many folks there, didn't have to wait in line. Local Facebook post has said the senior hour is jammed so we stayed away at that time.

Best of all... gas was $1.499! Expected a drop but not that low ($2.149 in late Feb. is last datapoint at that location).

DW went to the regular grocery store after that, when stay at home order for 6 AM today was out (needed laundry detergent but we don't care for the options available at Costco). Got a few more things we typically get at local grocery, crowd was up since the announcement. Again, only thing we haven't gotten that we'd like is eggs.

We'd been stay at home except for food for past week since returning home from a trip so this is no big change for us.

Oh yea... on another note... one of our local restaurants doing the typical take out only ran a special, announced on Facebook, not on website. They called it the Love Burger (Loveland is name of town) and said they wanted to give some Love to the community. Free burger and fries, one per person in vehicle, call ahead and come to have brought to your vehicle (masked/gloved delivery, instructions on removal from package and washing to avoid any possible contamination on outside of package), during lunch hours. Tips accepted and appreciated. We figured maybe they had stock they were using up. So we did it and tipped $20, about the normal price for the two of us. :)
 
CA central coast

Went to Von's yesterday during senior hour. Scored the last pack of Charmin
Out of

Viva paper towels
Flour
All manner of dried beans, peas, etc
bean sprouts
chicken
Kleenex



Plenty of produce
ground beef
 
Can't get delivery times for the next 5+ days in my area. I tried Instacart, Amazon whole foods, amazon fresh, walmart. I guess I'll have to go out myself and see what's left on the shelves.
 
I was finally able to get a pick up time at local Fred Meyer(Kroger). Will see what I get. No paper products though. For those, I guess you have to go inside :-/
 
Gumby said:
So he's accustomed to waiting in line.
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Yeah but I bet he’s not native to the area as I usually only hear “waiting on line” from NY’ers. And for others DMV stands for DC, MD, VA i.e. DC and suburbs.
 
Whoever suggested going to an international grocery store had a good tip. We have several in the area and I’ve wanted to check them out anyway. Pretty much fully stocked except TP and gallon size bleach. Bought two qts and several generic rolls paper towels. They had water too but I passed. I’ll make another run in a day or two.
 
dvalley said:
Can't get delivery times for the next 5+ days in my area. I tried Instacart, Amazon whole foods, amazon fresh, walmart. I guess I'll have to go out myself and see what's left on the shelves.
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In our area Instacart delivery times literally change minute by minute. Morning is usually best. In one morning the times can go from none available, to a week out, and then change to the next 2 hours. I kept trying and ordered $300 on a next 2 hours trip from a restaurant supply store and got over half of the order filled.
 
dvalley said:
Can't get delivery times for the next 5+ days in my area. I tried Instacart, Amazon whole foods, amazon fresh, walmart. I guess I'll have to go out myself and see what's left on the shelves.
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We had Walmart pickup available.

It's about as good as delivery, as I didn't even get out of the van, and person put the groceries (in plastic bags) into my cardboard boxes.

Build your list, then look for delivery time, if none available, log back in after midnight, or early morning and pick a time.
 
jollystomper said:
OK Boomers :).


The DMV is known as the DC/MD/VA area around the capital beltway. At least that is what my kids tell me. :)
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Maybe by some. The local news stations tv and radio have been using it for the last year or so. Personally I don't like it
 
I use the Walmart pick up (you can get a pick up time if you get on the Walmart website in the middle of the night but be sure to fully complete your order or it goes away). I was doing my order during the night and put in an order for dried prunes (don't ask). Anyway they have a limit of 2 small packs of dried prunes. I never thought I would see a limit on prunes. Very strange times.
 
Just made my Fresh Thyme run. No crowds, quick check-out. Well stocked with most everything including water, pasta, pasta sauce and lots of produce and fruit (didn't check paper goods). Beef was a little low on the shelf, but they have a BOGO this week, and they always have a hard time keeping up with that.
 
statsman said:
I've given up. It doesn't matter if you're part of the early crowd or later in the day, certain food items just haven't returned, or if they have, shoppers are snapping up as much as they are allowed. People in the Cedar Park / Leander, TX area have lost their collective minds. Most act like their shopping visit may be the last time they will ever see some of these food items.
Click to expand...

I just got back from weekly grocery run to our local HEB (NW Austin near Cedar Park), They are letting about 20 people in at a time after you stand in a line outside with blue tape marking off 6' spacing. I waited about 15 minutes. Store noticeably less crowded with regular customers but lots and lots of delivery workers (they do not have to wait in line). Did not see anything that looked like stock-up buying (although they do have quantity limits on many items). Quite a few people wearing masks which did surprise me a bit.

I did get hand soap and disinfectant wipes which were out the past two weeks. Absolutely no dishwasher detergent on the shelves for some reason. No pasta (except gluten free - I passed), very limited rice, no microwave popcorn. Meat department back to almost normal in the fresh section, frozen pretty bare. Produce also normal.

Overall, not bad at all. Not sure why things are so much worse just a few miles north.
 
I've gone back to my online carts on instacart/amazon/walmart several times since yesterday with things only getting worse i.e. items keep getting removed from my cart as they run out or the available delivery dates keep getting pushed out even further. It's probably all location dependent.
 
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