Posted on 03/13/2020 1:49:13 PM PDT by Kaslin
Fancy grocery stores like Trader Joe's in affluent neighborhoods have lines out the door, regular stores, not so much.
Different types of people handle situations differently, especially when it comes to stuff like a pandemic of a deadly Wuhan virus. But in New York City and elsewhere, an interesting pattern is emerging in regard to fancy chain grocery stores like Trader Joes and Whole Foods which have been picked over like a carcass and still have long lines. Meanwhile, regular neighborhood chain stores have a few shortages, but are operating pretty normally.
The evidence is anecdotal, but its reflected on social media as well. I went to my local grocery this morning and there were a few people hoarding, but it wasnt packed, it was well stocked, and seemed to be humming along.
COVID-19 has officially hit NYC.
Theres not a single piece of food left at Trader Joes or Whole Foods. pic.twitter.com/L5mF15LmRs
— Yano (@JasonYanowitz) March 12, 2020
Over at Trader Joes, multiple news reports have made the popular millennial hot spot sound like a post apocalyptic hellscape.
Here is video of the line inside one Manhattan location.
There is probably more than one reason that these differences are occurring, but it seems highly likely that the dispositions and incomes of the two sets of customers are playing a role in the run on Trader Joes and the slow steady traffic of old school grocers. The former are almost all in affluent sections of the city, the latter more often in middle and lower middle class neighborhoods.
But its not just in New York City.
This pattern is also happening in DC. Costco and big-box stores much worse than neighborhood grocers. https://t.co/mq9XzZaUfm
— Inez Stepman (@InezFeltscher) March 13, 2020
Whole Foods, Los Angeles. 8:00pm Thursday, March 12. pic.twitter.com/fpVJb4yHK3
— Arezou Rezvani (@ArezouRezvani) March 13, 2020
In the industrial part of Houston supermarkets are stocked with light traffic. In the expensive parts of town the whole foods are packed. It doesn't pay to be extremely online.
— Chris Raab (@ChrisRaab3) March 13, 2020
Welp.
This is what the Trader Joes on 14th street in DC looks like this afternoon. pic.twitter.com/31BDKERnEn
— Peter Suderman (@petersuderman) March 13, 2020
The scene this afternoon from the Trader Joes in Cambridge. pic.twitter.com/wysIrl8Ujz
— Jonathan Yuan (@jyuanathan) March 13, 2020
There is something to be said for the fact that more affluent people may be paying closer attention to the virus, but before we get to that, there are a few practical reasons this could be happening.
The first is income. New Yorkers who arent wealthy are not known for being swimming in savings. For many, the idea of dropping $500 right now for a stockpile would interfere with tight budgets. Another factor is space, people in small apartments dont have storage for 27 twelve packs of toilet paper. And small apartments mean small fridges and freezers compared to those in new luxury buildings.
But it’s not completely off base to point to some psychological differences as well. For one thing, white collar professionals are far more likely to have jobs that allow them to stay tuned in constantly to the updates that cause anxiety and panic buying. The wage-worker, who isnt on a device all day, is watching a severe pandemic occur, but not in a constant cascade of panic. The affluent in these areas also tend to be more progressive than middle class New Yorkers, and the progressive media has leaned very hard into the worst possible outcomes, whether for political reasons or not.
Whatever the reasons for the disparity, there seems to be two different realities playing out in the city regarding the Wuhan virus. Everyone might be taking precautions, but in different ways across socio-economic lines.
In the working class neighborhoods rules and advice from officials are being followed, but not exceeded to the point of baring the the shelves of the stores. Ultimately, this is probably a much more responsible approach, as local stores will have better control of their supply lines.
Its a tale of two cities, one experiences a bit of a panic-driven freak out and another takes a more measured approach. I find myself in the latter camp, and I could be wrong, but at least I wont be spending two hours on line at Whole Foods.
My Winn Dixie was calm as was the gourmet chain Fresh Market. My husband said Publix was wild. So pretty meaningless.
My wife works in a Kroger in our town. No TP, no meat, very little produce, long lines, and her department (the online shopping unit for that store) was behind 4 hours on orders at 2 pm today.
This may have been accurate Wednesday or Thursday, but Joe NASCAR got the message after all of his sports events were cancelled.
Im gonna die but being mortal Ive made my peace with it.
I stopped at Trader Joe’s, and the store was completely out of nail guns and axle grease.
I suspect that this weekend, ALL the grocery stores are going to look like that.
Today was tempered, I believe, by the fact that school is still in session in most places and so people are busy with jobs etc and weren’t out shopping.
Weekends are always bad anyways with people who do all their week;’s shopping then.
I think it’s going to be far worse this weekend based on what I saw today.
They are.
Liberalism is a mental illness, and neurotic panic buying is just one symptom. Thats why where libs shop, shelves are emptying, and people are waiting in block-long lines in the false hope that what they and everyone else in line want will be there when they get inside.
And these people can vote.
It’s the herd mentality of the PC crowd.
I agree because the people who have been paying attention to the news have been getting ready for this for weeks, because they've seen this coming.
The affluent millennials are caught off guard because they are so self-absorbed and self-centered, that they don't pay attention to something unless it's hitting them over the head.
My work can be done anywhere with decent internet, my mom is 87 and living alone and so I packed up and went over there for the duration. She lives in what is regarded as an affluent suburb in NC but her section is pretty rural and dominated with farmers. Shopping is done at Food Lion in that same suburb. Things were fine, nothing short but hand sanitizer right up until the ACC basketball tournament was cancelled and then all hell broke loose. The store is trying mightily to keep the shelves stocked but nonperishables get gone quickly and theyre losing the battle. Toilet paper? Forget about it.
They are buying into the hysteria totally.
I really wish this article hadn’t been written. It was nice to find toilet paper at my unfashionable little store.
Do you have a Lowes or a Home Depot near you.
I had luck there earlier this week.
I was at a local Wegman's today as well, in a very rural Upstate NY town and it was basically the same thing.
They were also completely out of chicken and there was one turkey and one turkey breast left.
I took the turkey. Hey, it's meat and a lot like chicken and turkey cooked over the grill for the 4th of July is a real treat. When I went back later, just to see if it was still there, the breast was gone.
The meat dept guy said they had trucks coming in but they were having trouble supplying everything and every body. They had to pack the trucks to capacity and hire extra drivers to drive them.
I can't help but wonder if those people who are panic buying TP have enough food stored in their houses to need that much.
After all, no food = no need for TP.
In my hometown the majority of the people were Mormon while I was not. My friends parents used to grow gardens and can everything - always had a lot of emergency food on hand. I used to tease my mormon friends that if the end of the world came I was going to raid the Mormon churches for food.
Theres a Lowes grocery store very close but tend not to shop there, cant figure out their sales, seems sort of expensive. Theres a Lowes Home Improvement about ten miles west, havent tried it. No Home Depot near unless going into more heavily populated areas east, suspect that would be picked over at this point.
I have decided to hold off on buying any more meat right now. I always keep a stock in my freezer and t think I am good for the 2 weeks.
I think once everyones freezer is full, you will see the stores restocked. (That excludes the possibility that this thing becomes much worse than the experts are predicting).
The thing I really need right now is some fresh produce, but I am going to wait a few days on that as well. I think this weekend will be utter chaos at most grocery stores.
I get my water at a vending machine. 35 cents a gallon.
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