When the pandemic hit, a boom of people rushed to grocery stores and stocked up on items such as paper towel, toilet paper, meat, canned goods and more, leaving grocery store shelves empty. Grocery stores had to put quantity limits on products to get people to stop hoarding them. Sales went through the roof at stores like Costco, Walmart and Kroger as demand increased. The height of that boom is coming to an end as people begin to eat out more and adapt to a new normal. This slowdown may mean that stores will ramp up their promotions and discounts to boost sales again.
Are you noticing that stores are fully stocked now? At the beginning of the pandemic, did you stock up on essential items? Was it difficult for you to find items you needed?
At first I thought stock-piling “quarantine supplies” was unnecessary, so we only shopped for the essentials. It was unfortunately to truly need toilet paper and not be able to find it! Thankful for my friends coming to the rescue in that situation!
However, I did go to the store shortly after the stay at home order was issued to find many completely empty shelves - no pasta, no canned goods, no paper products, no protein. I was shocked and that certainly helped my fear grow. I stocked up at that point on whatever non-perishable and freezer items I could find. It’s funny to look back on that knowing how things progressed, but I know at the time it’s hard to stop that mob-mentality fear of the unknown from creeping in.
The stores I’ve gone to are stocked with the items I need now. In the past few months it seems shelves are back to normal with non-perishable and paper items.
I was fortunate enough to have purchased several of those items a week before the pandemic took hold, so I didn’t need to stock up. I would pick up the occasional bottle of hand sanitizer or rubbing alcohol when I found it, but I never really hoarded anything except hand soap, but I ordered that online.
I remember that aside from paper products and cleaning supplies, the beans and rice aisle was pretty barren, milk was pretty much gone, and certain types of meat were scarce, but I never had any major issues finding the essentials. I made sure I had extra baby food and diapers for my child, but I didn’t try to overstock my pantry.
Presently, most items are back on the shelves. I can’t help but notice that now there is an overabundance of toilet paper such that the store has placed it in every empty space throughout the store. Name brand cleaning wipes are currently the only thing I still see missing. I’ll occasionally see the off-brands and imitators, but those are still hard to find.