Shopping and restocking updates

[MichaelB]

There are so many posts across different threads about shopping, what the stores are like, how well stocked they are, and if ooptions such as pick up or home delivery are working, I thought we might be better informed with a dedicated thread. I'll go first.

Went for a grocery run this morning. Trade Joe was full, no place to park, and easily 30-40 people waiting in line, so I did'nt bother getting out of my car.

Target didn't have many shoppers. It also didn't have much to buy. Widely empty shelves, even for items their web site says they have in stock.

DW and I will try Publix later today.

Edit to add - South Florida

 

[braumeister]

Kroger here (northern Kentucky) is about 90% back to normal, in terms of both stockage and customer traffic.

 

[USGrant1962]

Interesting that this is occurring in the lumpen slums of cyberspace. Perhaps folks should say where?

 

[OldShooter]

Yesterday/Tuesday DW entered an order for curbside pickup at a local grocery store. After entering it, the web site told her that there were no pickup times available and suggested that she check back. This morning she did go back and now has a scheduled pickup time for next Monday. Seven days out!

 

[Dawg52]

Winn Dixie same way. Out of a ton of stuff this morning. Mississippi.

 

[Sunset]

Interesting that this is occurring in the lumpen slums of cyberspace. Perhaps folks should say where?

+1
Helps to know which State.

 

[MichaelB]

Interesting that this is occurring in the lumpen slums of cyberspace. Perhaps folks should say where?

Good point, my post is edited.

 

[cbo111]

Here in Bradenton, FL, we have a somewhat older population. Many stores like Publix, Costco, etc, have implemented "senior hours" starting early before the official opening. The problem is they are too successful. I went to the Costco about 15 minutes before senior hour this morning and there was a line of old folks wrapping around the parking lot. So I continued on to Walmart, which surprisingly had no crowds and plenty of stuff, sans TP. I'm thinking things are going to lighten up in the coming days as all those paycheck-to-paycheck and out of work folks start to run out of money. Only then will supply exceed demand.

 

[Sunset]

I'm trying the Walmart pickup for the first time.
Yesterday I logged in (already had a Walmart account) and filled up my order list of $52.
While I was filling the list, which takes some time to find each thing, my milk entry in the list changed to "out of stock".
There were no available pickup times, but it kept my list.

This morning at 8am local time I logged back in, and my list was still there and the milk that was out of stock was back in stock within my list.
So I started checkout, and there was 3 time slots, for tomorrow

I'm all set for 4pm - 5 pm time slot Wed. (seems a wide time slot to me)

 

[Montecfo]

Here in Northern Va

Many local stores have begun "senior hours" a couple of days a week, first thing:

Walmart:

Visited at 630 AM during senior hours. Was able to pickup eggs and TP that were stockout at other times. Most things in stock but asking you to limit quantities. Lots of produce. Not too crowded but more than I expected. Dude policing the door I thought was gonna make me produce ID ( yes, I am over 60).

Harris Teeter:

Pretty well stocked except eggs, TP. Cooking oils low, same with flour and other baking goods. Saw note on door that they are doing senior hours. Was not nearly as busy which I enjoyed.

Costco:

This is the worst. Too crowded and people don't always maintain distance. Most things in stock (went right after they opened). Some meats sold out. Asked you to limit meat quantities.

The grocery stores are doing crazy business!

 

[pacergal]

I have tried online at Safeway, Walmart, Amazon/whole foods, Fred meyer(Kroger)
All are more than a week out for either pick up or delivery, depending on company.
I have had better luck going to our local Safeway or Walmart right at opening time.
Still finding it virtually impossible to get refills of TP, clorox wipes, hand sanitizer, and frequently bleach is out. Luckily, I have some stocked from previous.
Some Fresh meats, eggs, bread random if they are in stock or not.
I am trying very hard not to go to the store more than once every 7-10 days, if nothing else to grab a carton of milk. I can not find any dry milk powder.
Northern Oregon area

 

[travelover]

Used Instacart today north of Portland. Put in order yesterday PM, it arrived at about 9 AM today. Fee was $3.99 plus tip. Got almost everything on list, a few veggies were upgraded to organic. Needless to say, very happy with the convenience and service.

 

[ncbill]

Our preferred store is a LIDL only a short (~5 minutes) drive away.

No "older people or persons at risk" reserved hours there.

DW had no problems picking up all the basics we wanted this morning, right after they opened @0800,

Few people, at least that early.

 

[MBAustin]

Yesterday I drove by our local grocery store at 10:30am - parking lot full and the line was around the corner of the building (probably 75 people, practicing social distancing). I'm holding off as long as possible to go back, probably Friday or Saturday. Austin TX

 

[Scrapr]

Sunday I went to Costco (Bend, Or). It was normal busy. I think I went shortly after opening (10:00 am). Got my stuff. TP of course is out. The bagels were in a different spot & packaged differently. Costco is good about covering up out of stock items with even more items

Monday I went back to Costco because I forgot 2 items. Same time. That's when I saw "Senior" hours. cr*p. I hate to take advantage of Senior hours because I don't feel Senior. But Drivers license don't lie. Store traffic was way down. Waited 1 person in self checkout. The store leave check line was a bit longish but just as I get up there another checker comes on & we move right along

I am still looking for TP. But I "know a guy". My back door neighbor works afternoon at Costco so he's going to keep an eye out. I will make a early run to Costco and see if anything is in. The late Mrs Scrapr would have been in I told you so heaven during this time. She had back stock on everything. I have been working down the hoard

edit: NSFW I am down to 3 rolls back stock! Mission critical now. I'm getting up early for a Costco run.

 

[Spock]

Sorry I don't have a link or location, but I read a news article this morning regarding Costco posting "no return" policies on TP, rice, beans etc.

In the article, it was observed that at least at that time and at that location, there were no lines AND there was plenty of TP on the shelves...

so there might be ray of sunshine out there somewhere.

 

[Midpack]

Probably very region specific. In NC.

Local Whole Foods was out of all the popular hoarding items, and surprisingly the food item shelves (as opposed to personal items like soap, lotions) were half empty throughout much of the store. Was busier than normal but not nuts. Of course hot table and prepared foods almost completely shut down, bakery and pizza were the only active services?

Local Harris Teeter and Publix about the same as Whole Foods. Out of common hoarding items and low on all sorts of food items, but not as low as Whole Foods - they were at least half empty on most food items.

In contrast to the post above about Costco, our local Costco is the most organized and proactive store around. They actively clean everything constantly, and keep people apart as much as they can when people are queuing up for shopping carts, checking out. Busy but they move people along faster than most stores. And they post what they’re out of at the front door so people know without going in to look. I was quite impressed.

Haven’t been to Target in over a week, soon though.

 

[donheff]

I’m in DC on Capitol Hill. My DIL has been in the nearby Giant and Harris Teeter and both were close to normal. I have been to Eastern Market- a block long building with butchers, seafood, deli, etc and they were normally stocked. Trader Joe’s had a small line as they limited how many people could be inside but DIL says they are well stocked. The Costco is reportedly slammed. I’m not planning to find out for myself.

 

[Just_Steve]

60 miles north of NYC paper products in most stores and hand sanitizer in all stores are not in stock, also limits on some items. Otherwise, just another day.

 

[MrsHaloFIRE]

San Antonio. Im doing online only. Wal-Mart order no eggs, bread or milk and very few cans available. They did not appear to even try to get my items requested outside of groceries I.e. I need some screws. I doubt there was a run on packaged screws.
HEB is the local chain. Picked up curbside yesterday. Also no bread milk eggs. I had another order in for a future date and they cancelled it I noticed last night. Went in and built out an incredibly large order for 2 weeks hence. Makes no sense to me that if they have no milk NOW why I cant request it for THEN. Also, no deletions and only 4 additions allowed. So I have apples and bananas coming out of my ears. And may be I won't need some of that stuff in 2 weeks. But maybe i will do I clicked "buy" or whatever

 

[Ready]

In Southern Cal I can buy unlimited quantities at Costco of hot chocolate lava cake 4-packs for $6.99 and 2.5 pounds of Panko Shrimp for $14.00.

But if I want to buy TP, paper towels, disinfectant wipes, flushable wipes, rubbing alcohol, or exam gloves...forget about it. Most are sold out for long periods of time, and when they do get them in they get sold out the first hour the store is open.

If I don’t need those things, I can call ahead and ask if there is a line. Usually in the middle of the weekdays there is no wait, but sometimes it gets too crowded and they have to limit the number of people in the stores.

I really wish they would place a limit on essentials like TP to one per membership per month. But so far they haven’t done anything like that.

 

[Sunset]

San Antonio. Im doing online only. Wal-Mart order no eggs, bread or milk and very few cans available. They did not appear to even try to get my items requested outside of groceries I.e. I need some screws. I doubt there was a run on packaged screws.
HEB is the local chain. Picked up curbside yesterday. Also no bread milk eggs. I had another order in for a future date and they cancelled it I noticed last night. Went in and built out an incredibly large order for 2 weeks hence. Makes no sense to me that if they have no milk NOW why I cant request it for THEN. Also, no deletions and only 4 additions allowed. So I have apples and bananas coming out of my ears. And may be I won't need some of that stuff in 2 weeks. But maybe i will do I clicked "buy" or whatever

Might be a run on them, as all our stock accounts are screwed

 

[Boho]

I guess it's a good sign that Amazon updated the date of delivery to an earlier date.

 

[aja8888]

Location: The Woodlands, TX

I just left Walmart about an hour ago (2 PM). Medium busy store. I had to pick up one of DW's prescriptions.

I had to wait so I did some grocery shopping. Bought Johnsonville Brats (2 packs), Hamburg (frozen patties), sliced Provolone cheese, Yogurt, a head of lettuce. some tomatoes, 18 pack of 3 ply TP, a gallon of distilled water (for DW's O2 maker), and 6 40 pound bags of black mulch.

No craziness going on, the store looked and felt normal.

 

[W2R]

Location: Inner suburb of New Orleans.

I haven't been to a grocery store for three weeks (when I stocked up for this).

F went to a big local chain supermarket (Rouse's), last week. He said it wasn't too bad except he noticed no TP, of course, no paper towels, almost no meat, and only maybe one or two loaves of bread. There was very little cheese, but he did get some. Walgreen's was also out of nearly everything. He did manage to get paper towels somewhere so he is telling people online to shop around for these scarce items.

I got out of the house for the first time in over a week today, and noticed that the supermarket parking lots were full.

So that's really all that I know. Staying home 24/7 on lockdown, hopefully with enough of everything to last until summer.