Posted on 03/04/2020 10:54:34 AM PST by SeekAndFind
American shoppers flock to branches of the major department store Costco across the country in order stock up on supplies in fear of a coronavirus outbreak, CNBC reported.
The various necessities being sought include hand sanitizer, paper towels, trail mix, water and surgical masks, all of which are being bought in bulk.
Citing Nielsen, CNBC reported that hand sanitizer sales are up 73% since February 22, while surgical masks sales are up 319%.
However, Nielsen added that it does not expect hand sanitizer sales to peak any time soon.
The sudden surge of panic-induced shoppers is predicted by some to cause a rise in Costco shares. “We expect material comp benefits for Costco,” analyst Rupesh Parikh told clients, according to CNBC.
“Our observations and conversations with store employees [and] management suggest a strong pickup in traffic starting Thursday through at least Saturday.”
On Monday, Costco shares rose 4%.
However, the sudden surge of customers stocking up on supplies could also result in less demand in the future, as well as a depletion of stocks.
Already, local reports in Oregon confirmed that a Costco in the state ran out of toilet paper.
(Excerpt) Read more at jpost.com ...
I remember going to Costco the day after Y2k. There was a HUGE return line. Sure, there were people returning stuff like power generators. But I’ve never seen so much potato chips and peanut butter being returned in my life.
CNBC again cultivating panic and hysteria at every opportunity.
From the picture it looks like a swarm of one? Instead of his normal case of bottled water ..he got 2..oh my.
just a reminder of how powerful, the corrupt leftist MSM is... truly the enemy of the people.
I guess I’ll skip my weekly Costco run this weekend.
my bad. I didn’t see the picture with a couple dozen people in it.
Godspeed America!
My wife participated in this fiasco (not at Costco) the last few days. I didn’t bother to deter her, because I had noticed some of our stocks had gotten low anyway....soups, dry stock, toiletries, etc.
She likely didn’t get the best bargains, but whatever makes her happy.
I was just as walmart in NW florida, and it was pretty well stocked.
I got a second giant pack of toilet paper and enough food to make sure I actually even need that much toilet paper.
I was not able to get the proper cat food though.
Stormy gonna be pissed.
Saw a guy buy all the lysol, hand wipes, and bleach that would fit in his cart at 7am.
I hope this guy doesn’t mix them..
BTW shouldn’t those people be wearing masks?
Kind of hard to shop at Costco and not like you’re preparing for something terrible, be it the apocalypse, a family reunion, or whatever it is that requires five gallons of mayonnaise.
Go there and see if you can buy a brain...
or at least a spine.
I’d sooner ride it out with rice and beans than trail mix.
Does anyone remember washing their hands with soap? Or drinking water that didn’t come in a plastic bottle?
Very nice. :-)
Hope they don’t get a big snow storm as well.
NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt asked an “expert” talk about shortages from stock up hoarding.
The expert said “bottled water” would be likely be all gone from store shelves.
WTF???. NBC News didn’t even question the guy “Why?” or say “that makes no sense”.
This isn’t 16th century England and we aren’t getting our water from a community bucket spigot. If we are getting disease through our tap water, we have WAY bigger problems than Coronavirus.
NBS news should be shut down for malpractice. Idiots spreading panic.
I participated in the run on COSTCO (in Oregon), but last week, before the frenzy hit. I only bought extra stuff I will use anyway. TP, soap and long shelf life food.
I expect the COSTCO that ran out of TP was in Portland.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.