Panic is beginning to set in around Southern California. School closures, events are cancelled. Stores are running out of food and necessities.
I went to many different grocery stores today to find everything I need, and each of them were crowded. Every clerk at a register, and most had several people restocking the shelves while the store was open. Trader Joe's had run out of milk and peanut butter, and each side of the freezer aisle was practically empty as people stockpiled the prepared food. Winco was a mad house, with several aisles very low on canned goods, and employees unsure when their next shipment of stuff would arrive. Target was completely sold out of toilet paper, as was Costco. Costco had a sign up that water was limited to one case per person, yet there were no cases of water remaining (are people expecting the tap water to be shut off?). Smart & Final, a local chain that moved more mainstream from being a restaurant grocer about ten years back, fared the best. The main problem here is that the only cart available had a broken wheel -- luckily I'm strong. Finding shopping carts (trolleys) was a problem every where. Our local Kroger outlet , Vons, was the least crowded and had the most variety, but were still nearly out of the things everyone else was: toilet paper, dry beans, peanut butter, and bottled water. Or rather, I should say Vons had the most variety of things that people don't want to buy but some company paid for shelf space (and they wonder why they keep losing market share). Lowe's, the hardware store, still had lots of single-ply toilet paper, and piled it conveniently near the front door. Of course, they were out of breathing masks.
Luckily I was smart enough to stock up on the the things they sold out of two weeks ago. We're now packed to the gills, and the freezer is full. Out here in California, we know we cannot rely on the government to handle the outbreak, so it's time to hunker down. Individual schools are still deciding whether or not to close, as are conferences. Here's hoping we all come out on the other side alive!
I went to many different grocery stores today to find everything I need, and each of them were crowded. Every clerk at a register, and most had several people restocking the shelves while the store was open. Trader Joe's had run out of milk and peanut butter, and each side of the freezer aisle was practically empty as people stockpiled the prepared food. Winco was a mad house, with several aisles very low on canned goods, and employees unsure when their next shipment of stuff would arrive. Target was completely sold out of toilet paper, as was Costco. Costco had a sign up that water was limited to one case per person, yet there were no cases of water remaining (are people expecting the tap water to be shut off?). Smart & Final, a local chain that moved more mainstream from being a restaurant grocer about ten years back, fared the best. The main problem here is that the only cart available had a broken wheel -- luckily I'm strong. Finding shopping carts (trolleys) was a problem every where. Our local Kroger outlet , Vons, was the least crowded and had the most variety, but were still nearly out of the things everyone else was: toilet paper, dry beans, peanut butter, and bottled water. Or rather, I should say Vons had the most variety of things that people don't want to buy but some company paid for shelf space (and they wonder why they keep losing market share). Lowe's, the hardware store, still had lots of single-ply toilet paper, and piled it conveniently near the front door. Of course, they were out of breathing masks.
Luckily I was smart enough to stock up on the the things they sold out of two weeks ago. We're now packed to the gills, and the freezer is full. Out here in California, we know we cannot rely on the government to handle the outbreak, so it's time to hunker down. Individual schools are still deciding whether or not to close, as are conferences. Here's hoping we all come out on the other side alive!
"Kitto daijoubu da yo." - Sakura Kinomoto