I just spent 6 hours in line just to get into the supermarket

[Seductivpancakes]

This was a Chinese supermarket in Brooklyn.

My mom and I only needed a few things, but we decided to wait it out just in case it gets worse in NYC, and we'll limit the need to venture out for food.

The supermarket opened at 10 AM but people were lining up since 7 AM. I got there at 10AM, and got home like 15 mins ago. The line wrapped around the block twice, and they were only letting 10 people in at a time. People are just buying two shopping cards worth of groceries, which is why it took forever to get there.

The thing was the supermarket was filled with goods. Some stuff like brown eggs, (don't know why Chinese people don't like white eggs) and chicken wings were sold out. I did hear a few Chinese Supermarkets did close, cause no one wanted to work during a pandemic, so everyone is just going mad on groceries right now.

So how's your grocery shopping like so far?

 

[Deleted member 44129]

Here in the UK I keep hearing how there's enough food to go around. So far I'm not convinced.

 

[electricblue]

Definitely not standing in no fucken line. I'll survive off rice and beans and canned goods before I do that

 

[Rosebud]

Wow...

We are just using delivery, it takes 2-3 days but it's fine for us.

 

[Seductivpancakes]

Definitely not standing in no fucken line. I'll survive off rice and beans and canned goods before I do that

Click to shrink...

Funny thing, Chinese people don't seem to like canned goods, so the canned foods were almost untouched.

 

[LuigiMario]

Thankful to not live in a big city right now, grocery shopping is still mostly fine here.

 

[Snake Eater]

I'm in BK and have yet to wait in line

 

[Theswweet]

No offense, but standing in a line for 6 hours sounds like a surefire way to get the virus in NY...

 

[Deleted member 12028]

Got my groceries delivered this morning. Person dropped them off at the front door, rang the door bell, and stayed until I appeared to give her a thumbs up through the window.

 

[Seductivpancakes]

I'm in BK and have yet to wait in line

Click to shrink...

This is HL supermarket, in Dyker Heights. Right on Fort Hamilton Parkway.

No offense, but standing in a line for 6 hours sounds like a surefire way to get the virus in NY...

Click to shrink...

It totally is. I did my best to keep 6 feet in front of me and behind. I didn't step up all the way to the guy in front of me, and I made sure the hand cart I brought was behind me and blocking the guy behind me from getting too close.

At one point, a cop cruiser drove by and got on the speakers to tell people on line to not stand so close.

 

[Kaban]

We waited half an hour to get into a Trader Joe's last week. It sucked to wait, but it was worth it in the end. Best stocked store since the pandemic hit - had everything we needed (in San Diego btw)

 

[lt519]

Just did a run to Target, avoiding the more crowded Wegman's. They had plenty of everything minus being a little low on Breads/Pasta/Pasta Sauce. Got basically everything I needed but chicken. They did have limits on everything like 8 pantry items, 2 pasta items, 4 loaves of bread, 2 gallons of milk, etc. Wasn't too busy either, less busy than a normal Sunday afternoon at Target TBH. People are taking the stay at home shit seriously here. People were generally pretty cordial and waited for one person to leave an aisle before going into it. If I saw someone in aisle I just looped around and got something else first. Only had one person do the whole "Excuse me" and reach right in front of me to grab something.

In Central New York.

 

[RBH]

Insane

 

[Lobster Roll]

In Chicago I just roll up to any grocery store once a week, get right in, get my shit, observe a few missing items (this week's omission: pasta!), and get the hell out of there faster than I would pre-outbreak.

 

[AlmostMilk]

In LA things have calmed down a bit. Only really see lines for Trader Joe's or Costco that are long. Some places have limits on how many people can be inside so you will see a short line for those but I haven't had any problems finding things.

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

Chicago suburbs here. I've gone to the store twice in 3 weeks (just went on Friday) and never had to wait longer than 5 minutes. I try to go at weird times to avoid the biggest crowds.

 

[spindashing]

This was a Chinese supermarket in Brooklyn.

My mom and I only needed a few things, but we decided to wait it out just in case it gets worse in NYC, and we'll limit the need to venture out for food.

The supermarket opened at 10 AM but people were lining up since 7 AM. I got there at 10AM, and got home like 15 mins ago. The line wrapped around the block twice, and they were only letting 10 people in at a time. People are just buying two shopping cards worth of groceries, which is why it took forever to get there.

The thing was the supermarket was filled with goods. Some stuff like brown eggs, (don't know why Chinese people don't like white eggs) and chicken wings were sold out. I did hear a few Chinese Supermarkets did close, cause no one wanted to work during a pandemic, so everyone is just going mad on groceries right now.

So how's your grocery shopping like so far?

Click to shrink...

Nothing like this. We're in Queens, our Key Food was stocked with everything but tissue paper and toilet paper. Milk, bread, eggs... We had it all. Plus, it was empty. Our previous days doing this in other weeks, it was packed so I hope things have died down.

Might make another trip during the week to get more eggs because it's a limit of one per family.

 

[Lobster Roll]

Just did a run to Target, avoiding the more crowded Wegman's. They had plenty of everything minus being a little low on Breads/Pasta/Pasta Sauce. Got basically everything I needed but chicken. They did have limits on everything like 8 pantry items, 2 pasta items, 4 loaves of bread, 2 gallons of milk, etc. Wasn't too busy either, less busy than a normal Sunday afternoon at Target TBH. People are taking the stay at home shit seriously here. People were generally pretty cordial and waited for one person to leave an aisle before going into it. If I saw someone in aisle I just looped around and got something else first.

In Central New York.

Click to shrink...

Ugh ... Wegman's is a sacred trip. Sorry it must be avoided in these days.

 

[Deleted member 39374]

Order your groceries from an app, waiting in line is a sucker's game.

 

[SOBOSLDR]

I stocked up 3 weeks ago been out twice since March 4th. Have enough food for probably 6 more weeks. We are also only doing delivery now too, will probably need another delivery in 2-3 weeks.

 

[effingvic]

I'm in Queens and I've had no issues in supermarkets or pharmacies. Some stuff like cleaning supplies and pasta have been sold out but otherwise its about as busy as it usually is.

 

[Monkey D.]

What use is there in "10 people at a time in store" when hundreds wait outside for hours standing next to each other ?

Makes more sense to let people in and have them out as soon as possible.

I can't believe the amateur hour all the countries and governments show in time of crisis.

They didn't plan for this at all

 

[AlwaysSalty]

Man, I know you guys have costco. I bought all my stuff for at least a week or two when it started up. Second time I went back they had an almost normal amount of food in stock. I live in CT, at first meat and bread was hard to find but not anymore. Toilet paper and hand sanitizer is another story though.

 

[Seductivpancakes]

Nothing like this. We're in Queens, our Key Food was stocked with everything but tissue paper and toilet paper. Milk, bread, eggs... We had it all. Plus, it was empty. Our previous days doing this in other weeks, it was packed so I hope things have died down.

Might make another trip during the week to get more eggs because it's a limit of one per family.

Click to shrink...

I suspect the Chinese community in NYC are panicking a bit cause someone on WeChat claimed all the supermarkets will be forced to closed, and that shit spread like wildfire.

Order your groceries from an app, waiting in line is a sucker's game

Click to shrink...

This is an alien concept for Chinese supermarkets and the Chinese community in NYC.

 

[onadesertedisland]

Groceries here are definitely getting difficult to get. Haven't seen past or bread in the store for 2 weeks. The paper aisle doesn't have a single product.

 

[Conmex]

Everything seems almost back to normal here. Only thing thats still kind of in short supply is milk and eggs.

 

[TitlePending]

Here in the Washington DC Burbs, our grocery stores are fully stocked with no lines and hardly any people during weekday business hours.

So we're good down here...for now.

 

[Temp_User]

My SO's parents does the shopping. They have 'Senior Citizen' cards and they got first picks in the supermarket every morning. I'm actually glad they stayed with us during this time in California.

 

[lt519]

Ugh ... Wegman's a sacred trip. Sorry it must be avoided in these days.

Click to shrink...

I know, the produce I got at Target was trash tier compared to Wegman's. I had to skip over a few items on my list they looked so bad.

The lot didn't look too bad at Wegman's, but that shit is so crowded in there even when it's not busy, I can't even imagine now. I actually think I ended up spending more than I would have if I had gone to Wegman's too. I was totally out of my comfort zone and just buying random brands and probably overpaying. Tried to buy the Target brands when I could but got stuck buying expensive shit with no other choice on things they were running low on like plain yogurt.

 

[eosos]

Things are relatively back to normal in terms of stock for the SF, but the lines are still there especially on weekends. Going around 2pm has worked alright for me during the week.

 

[kyle mechlachlan]

Order your groceries from an app, waiting in line is a sucker's game.

Click to shrink...

Both Peapod and Amazon Fresh are completely sold out on delivery slots for the entire week, and have been for the last 2 weeks.

 

[Robochimp]

Went to Trader Joe's this morning, they're limiting people in the store. I waited outside for less than five minutes.

 

[In Medio Stat Virtus]

I have a supermarket in the street below my window and the line is pretty crazy, people line up since 8 AM and the line goes for as long as an entire block, all day.

Online ordering is out of the question, as some sites don't even load the homepage and another that I tried didn't have a delivery date available until the 4th of April (i tried to order there 2 weeks ago).

This is in Rome, not sure about other cities.

 

[Soma]

In SF (maybe it's just me) but it feels like it's calmed down a lot. The first few days after the Shelter In Place was announced, grocery stores were warzones and everyone was anxious or on edge. Now it feels like less people are in line (probably because everyone realized that there's no food shortage and deliveries are still being made and everyone hoarded everything they wanted in the beginning) and everyone's demeanor seems better. I've been going to this Asian corner store in my neighborhood that's almost always empty when I go there. There's a larger store down the street where I see lines but I walk past it and go to the smaller one where I generally find what I need.

 

[Deleted member 39374]

Both Peapod and Amazon Fresh are completely sold out on delivery slots for the entire week, and have been for the last 2 weeks.

Click to shrink...

Im in LA and use Prime Now, and the time slots have been opening up lately. I just get whatever I can at the time that I can, and go back to fill in the blanks each week. And I get my meals prepped and delivered with Thistle.

Instacart is great too

 

[RochHoch]

Crazy

I work retail, and my store has been kinda quiet for the past few days

 

[kess]

Oddly enough a lot of the smaller supermarkets in my city are well stocked, besides paper towels and the like. The last time I went to a Wegmans, the meat aisle was totally beat. Shockingly, the farmers markets are still open.

The fact there is still panic buying a month into this disaster is indicative of the situation in general. There's no assurance or signal things are getting better anytime soon.

Lines are indeed terrible, but the stores are short staffed. Most cashiers are going to be SOL if they have to go to the hospital.

 

[shaneo632]

I managed to get a delivery slot so I got about 2 weeks' worth of food delivered this morning for me and my gf and a few things my housemates needed.

Not sure there's anything I'd want enough to queue up 6 hours, be it a games console or some food - unless I'm literally starving of course.

 

[Conkerkid11]

I would hate to live in a big city right now.

We've got like 20 different grocery stores near us, and most of them have basically everything stocked up but toilet paper and hand sanitizer.

 

[SnatcherHunter]

Man, that's wild. Local stores are dead next to me.

 

[ClearMetal]

Supermarkets in the Netherlands are enforcing a limited amount of customers inside at once, but so far I didn't have to wait in line yet. Though it helps that I always go grocery shopping during dinner time, when there are relatively few people around.

Helpfully, groceries seem to have altered their supply schedules, as currently there's more bread being available at night while normally everything is gone by 5 p.m. So I'm stocked up on bread for at least 1 - 2 weeks.

I thought about using the delivery service of course, but that isn't really an option since it wasn't designed to handle this many online orders. Last I looked a couple of days ago there was a four week waiting list where I live.

 

[AlphaCookie]

My work went from doing 100-150% over what we're projected to do daily to barely meeting the numbers we did last year over this past week. People seem to have stockpiled enough stuff and/or ran out of money. We're expecting another rush on the 1st.

 

[Peru]

No shortage, no crowds in my local stores

 

[Walter White Walker]

Greater Seattle area, no lines or restrictions on # of people inside. Seems like grocery store crush has eased regardless.

 

[Deleted member 7148]

Grocery shopping has been rough here for a couple of weeks in Ohio, but thankfully the last few trips I made have been pretty good. It seems like the hoarding has been slowing down now that people are adjusting to this. The sweet spot seems to be around noon when all of the early hysterical shoppers and seniors are gone from opening yet plenty of stock is still available. Going at night is when they're mostly picked over.

Toilet paper and cleaning supplies are still hard to get though. Paper towels not so much anymore.

 

[ps3ud0]

Here in the UK I keep hearing how there's enough food to go around. So far I'm not convinced.

Click to shrink...

You should be, if we didn't have this asinine panic buying we would have the normal over-supply of food and the many, many trolleys worth that are chucked/given to charity each day at every location.

It's the logistics of having to distribute everything that's the issue. Too many dumb - getting fatter - people out there...

ps3ud0 8)

 

[egg]

Here in Virginia where I am it's as if nothing ever happened. Store hours have changed, few restaurants have opted for pick up only etc. and very few people wear gloves or masks but it is essentially as if nothing has happened here.

I live in a pretty populated area too, where all the shops are, movie theaters, mall, restaurants, etc.

 

[chefbags]

I've seen people line for Costco like 4 hours before it opens. Quite crazy and there was no 6ft minimum between each other so that was fucked.

 

[Gaf Zombie]

South Chicago. No lines. But I haven't seen TP in the store for weeks.

 

[PeterLegend]

Over here in Southern California the demand has gone down and the supply is slowly getting back to normal. It's early in the afternoon and Costco still has water and paper towels for sale, just no toilet paper. Meat is readily available at every supermarket after facing shortages the last 2 to 3 weeks.

In regards to disinfectant sprays and hand sanitizer, those are still hard to obtain unless you wait in line early in the morning at Costco, Walmart, Target etc...People are definitely hoarding the shit out of those bacteria killing items. I got lucky by purchasing some 70% isopropyl alcohol and filled a sprayer bottle that I take with me everywhere.