PROVIDENCE – The crush of supermarket shoppers started last week, and really hasn’t let up. If one business is thriving in the new economy, it’s grocery stores.
Photos of long lines and full shopping carts have filled social media streams. Anyone driving past a supermarket can see that people are flocking to stores.
Glenn Place, a co-owner of Tom’s Market, which has three locations in Rhode Island, estimated his customer counts are up two to three times what would have been expected this year.
They’re also moving more slowly through the cashiers, because instead of coming in with small baskets, they’re pushing carriages and leaving after having spent hundreds of dollars.
“They’re not purchasing five or six items at a time. They’re buying 30, 40, 50 items at a time,” said Place.
His stores have been picked clean in sections, restocked, and picked clean again over the past six days.
On Tuesday, interviewed in what he described as a slight lull in activity, Place said he was sold out of paper towels, toilet paper and alcohol-based sanitizer, as well as pork – a meat that requires a two-week window for an order.
He’s had stock redelivered from suppliers, but often at smaller amounts than requested, because every grocery store in the Northeast is experiencing the same demand. The supplier is trying to spread the amount available, this week, among all stores.
At Belmont Market in South Kingstown, the new directive from state health officials to keep crowds limited to 25 and under is being followed closely, said owner Jack Siravo.
The market has hired security and is requiring people to wait their turn outside if more than 25 people are inside shopping. “When someone comes out, someone else goes in,” said Siravo.
Siravo estimated he had two to three times the amount of customers in the last week, but said he expects those crowds to diminish. When?
“It’s hard to say. Most people realize the supply of toilet paper in the country will eventually normalize.”
To that point, the market was picked clean last week but had a truck in on Sunday, and now food is back on the shelves. Things like paper towels, hand sanitizer? Still out. “The food isn’t the problem,” he said.
In her press briefings, Gov. Gina M. Raimondo has sought to reassure Rhode Islanders that the food will still be there. There is no reason to hoard, she said. Stores will remain open.
Many stores are narrowing hours, to accommodate more time for restocking shelves, or to make accommodations for elderly and health-compromised customers, who are expected to be most impacted from a viral infection.
Starting Thursday, Stop & Shop supermarkets will allow people age 60 and older exclusively to shop from 6 a.m. to 7:30 a.m.
Starting Wednesday, Target announced it would reduce its hours and close all stores by 9 p.m. to allow for more deep cleaning and restocking. The first hour of the retail giant’s Wednesday opening hours will be reserved for the elderly and people with underlying health problems.
The company, which expanded to grocery sales nearly a decade ago, said it’s fast-tracking the flow of products in highest demand, to include food, medicine and other essentials.
Why are people shopping as though the food won’t return? It’s the fear of the unknown, Place said.
“It’s almost like a little hysteria is moving in,” he said.
Mary MacDonald is a PBN staff writer. You may reach her at MacDonald@PBN.com
