Posted on 03/02/2020 6:26:04 PM PST by david1292
As an outbreak of a new coronavirus causes some U.S. customers to fill up shopping carts and thin out store shelves, industry groups and experts say grocers can tamp down on “panic buying” by planning ahead and trying to stay stocked.
Grocery stores, including Costco stores, have seen a spike in sales of household items like hand sanitizer, face masks and cases of bottled water in recent weeks. Sales of shelf-stable grocery items, including fruit snacks, dried beans and pretzels, are on the rise, too, according to late-February data from Nielsen.
At U.S. stores, sales of fruit snacks were up by nearly 13%, dried beans were up 10% and pretzels were up 9% in the week that ended Feb. 22, according to Nielsen data. Sales of energy drinks, pet medicine, vitamin supplements and first-aid kits also saw sales spike.
Doug Baker, vice president of industry relations at food retailer trade group FMI, said U.S. shoppers have focused on buying items for prevention and preparedness. Now, in some parts of the country, they are shifting to response mode. He said they’re buying longer-lasting grocery items, such as canned goods and frozen fruits and vegetables.
He said retailers are doing their best to predict and respond to such shifts.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
I saw a couple in a Walmart in PA with TWO shopping carts of toilet paper. As I left they were returning with an empty cart.
Good point about brown rice, my supply is white unfortunately but I’m not going to start eating carbs again unless I’m forced to it. Have a case of McCains oats too that I bought long ago.
“Hello...corona virus does not affect electricity! If people in Hubei province in China are surviving, Americans will do just fine.”
Hello... Ever heard of trees falling over on power lines? Suppose that happens inside a quarantined area. Does some lineman just willy-nilly cross the quarantine perimeter to fix it? Or, do you just suppose they might want to take a little extra time to insure they don’t bring the virus back out with them?
As for China in general, a lot of the places that are not in cities are pretty backward. Many places do not even have electricity or reliable electricity in spite of China’s claim to have fully electrified. You don’t miss what you never had.
And as for Hubei Province and especially Wuhan, I wouldn’t say they are doing all that well.
Such hubris. SMH
Lots of tp, diapers, and paper towels coming through the Amazon warehouse.
Not sure if a great uptick as people buy that stuff normally.
” HD isn’t a medical supply store. “
Not labeled as such but until recently Home Depot was well stocked with N95, N99, P100 and related masks and respirators.
Sam’s club was packed yesterday. Far worse than the holidays. (Southern Ca).
Water, Toilet paper and canned chicken seemed to be really popular.
I didn't get it until after I went home and saw the news on FR. It would have never occurred to me to go buy everything in sight.
I store mine in the freezer in canning jars.
Same with spices and nuts.
The stuff keeps forever when frozen and hermetically sealed.
Shelf life on brown rice is mush shorter than white. Just FYI. goes rancid due to higher oil content.
They’re freaking out in Western WA. I was planning on stopping into the Lynnwood WA Costco on Saturday to grab a bottle of booze. It was nuts. I didn’t even park the car. Took 10 minutes to just get out of the lot!
We’re in Eastern WA but were there for a memorial for a friend. Our kids still live over there and they confirm it’s crazy. One daughter lives a mile from where the deaths occurred and the other daughter works nearby.
It would take only a very small loss of operator staff to shut down the nuclear power plant near me. And if the control room was contaminated, replacement staff aren’t going in. They would immediately scram the fission reaction. NRC regs cover all of this. That would be a huge unanticipated loss of power generating capacity for this area.
I’m in eastern WA also. The case in Pendleton, OR really isn’t very far from me.
I just heard yesterday that it IS happening in San Jose, CA and much of the Bay Area in CA
I just got back from Costco Boise, and they were completely “wiped” out of TP. Other items were low in stock.
Progresso soups are on sale at Publix this week.
Monday is the worst day to shop at Walmaart around here. The weekend crowd clean it and it’s not restocked for a couple of days.
if anyone wants hand sanitizer check out bath and body works in your area. I use purell alot when I am out and stupidly did not get a bunch. now I have to go look for it.
I’m in Grant county. Suspected case somewhere here. Hasn’t been confined yet.
well time will tell as it always does. Nobody confirmed with it yet in my state.
A receptionist had a mask on in the Dr’s office a couple weeks ago but said that was to protect from the flu because they had been seeing quite a few with it there.
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