Restocking the groceries

Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.

Spot checks of the two chain grocery stores and the farmers market in town show that supplies are being restocked and things are more or less back to normal – or as normal as the new times allow, given the coronavirus outbreak.

Walk through the three businesses and talk with their operators and indications are that the shelves are being restocked as rapidly and fully as possible and policies are being implemented to stem some of the panic buying that led to last week's scarcities.

Human nature being what it is, however, some individuals continue to game the system. Winn-Dixie, for example,
like the local Piggly Wiggly, has put limits on the number of certain products that may be purchased by any one person at a time. The items typically tagged for restrictions are toilet paper, napkins, sanitizers and bottled waters, among other high-demand items.

By Tuesday afternoon, March 24, Winn-Dixie had largely restocked its shelves with most of the standards, including the much-coveted toilet paper. By Wednesday morning, however, the toilet paper was gone again. Asked about the rapid depletion of the item, a Winn Dixie employee allowed that despite the imposed purchase limit, some people were cheating the system by getting different family members to buy two packs each.

Meanwhile at nearby Piggly Wiggly, which was also largely restocked on Wednesday morning with the exception of toilet paper, manager Arda Young offered assurance that semi-trucks were en-route with more stock, including the precious toilet paper. It remains to be seen, however, how long this commodity will last on the shelves, once consumers learn of its availability.

One thing that all the stores emphasized is that supplies are not running out and that consumers shouldn't panic. They also agree that business was going relatively well, given the circumstances and notwithstanding whatever else was happening with other businesses and the general economy.

“It's been crazy,” said owner/operator Edward Strickland, whose Jefferson Farmers Market at the corner of Railroad and East Washington Streets has seen a jump in traffic.

“It's been like Thanksgiving everyday,” Strickland added, noting that the Thanksgiving holiday was typically his best sales day, as it was a time when families tended to stay home and cook big meals.

He noted that eggs, bread and milk have been difficult to keep stocked, rapidly as they have been flying off the shelf. This despite the fact that he had doubled his orders of these items and that they were being delivered twice weekly.

The produce also was going fast, he said. People, moreover, were buying in greater volume, he said. Which led him to believe, he said, that given the perishable nature of vegetables and produce and the grater amounts being purchased, people were cooking more at home and also cooking greater portions, given the lack of eating-out opportunities.

Strickland said he was also seeing people who weren't regular customers, suggesting that they might be coming from outside the area. People, however, were going to go where the products were available, he offered philosophically.

As for the continued availability of products, Strickland offered assurance that his place was not likely to run out of supplies. Chickens and cows would continue producing eggs and milk, regardless of the circumstances, he said. And his produce came from the State Farmers Market just south of Atlanta, Ga, which boasted an abundance of products this time of year, he said.

At the Piggly Wiggly meanwhile, manager Arda Young said things had been touch-and-go for a while last week because of the panic rush on supplies. But things were starting to settle and get back to normal, he said.
“We were running out of things last week, but we got the trucks coming now,” Young said. “In fact, we're getting more food now than we did before.”

That said, he conceded that in other parts of the state, particularly in the bigger cities, scarcities still existed and people were panicking.

“But in small places like this, we don't have a problem,” Young said.
Even so, he reiterated that restrictions would continue on items such as toilet paper, sanitizers and other of the high-demand commodities.

At the nearby Winn-Dixie, management is prevented from talking to the media by corporate policy. Walking through the store, however, one notices that shelves are stocked again and that policies have been put in place to limit the binge buying of high-demand items, as well as the hours between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. reserved for older shoppers and the pharmacy now opening at 8 a.m. weekdays.

Additionally, operating hours have been shortened from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. to allow for the restocking of items and the sanitary cleaning of the store to ensure for customers' safety.

“As a grocer and people-first company, we are doing everything in our power during this time of uncertainty to lessen the impact it has on our associates, customers, community members and their loved ones,” said Anthony Hucker, president and CEO of Southeastern Grocers (SEG), which owns and operates Winn-Dixie and other brand stores.

On a related note, SEG, like other large grocers across the country, is hiring “on an expedited basis” to meet the increased demand for products. Indeed, news outlets report that at a time when most U.S. industries are shedding jobs because of the coronavirus crisis, the supermarket industry is on a hiring binge to keep up with the rising demand for food and other products.

The Ledger, a Lakeland, Fla., daily newspaper, quoted industry analyst David Livingston saying that the coronavirus has become the industry's “best recruiting tool in a long, long time.”

Livingston noted that the supermarket industry had long been experiencing a labor shortage, which the present crisis has underscored with its “unprecedented level of demand for food, water, sanitation and paper products.”
He is quoted saying that his clients have informed him that sales during the past month have jumped 50 to 80 percent compared with a year ago.

Additionally, he said, supermarkets's ramped-up sanitation measures means that more workers are needed to clean, disinfect, wipe and restock shelves.