The Supermarket thread

I thought it would be helpful to have a dedicated thread where everyone can report current conditions in the supermarkets.  What's in stock?  How busy they are?  What have you found to be a good hour?  What's out of stock?  

I haven't been in several days - last time I was at Stop and Shop - produce was wiped out, but milk, eggs and cheese were pretty well stocked.  Bread selection was ok.  Vitamin C was not available.  TP aisle section and lysol area was pretty empty.


Shop Rite Millburn yesterday was pretty well stocked at 10 am.  No paper towels / TP and limited cleaning supplies.  Smaller selection of bread and eggs and no flour.  But plenty of fresh fruits/veg, meat and milk.


I’ve found Stop and Shop to be hit or miss, jamie. The produce was well stocked the last two visits, though, and meats were back (except for any Jimmy Dean/Parks/Bob Evans-type breakfast sausage, which I was looking for). Items that hadn’t made much, if anything, of a return as of Tuesday: pasta, canned tomatoes, toilet paper, dish soap and frozen berries.


wendyn said:

Smaller selection of bread and eggs and no flour.

FWIW, Stop and Shop had an entire end display full of Gold Medal flour on Tuesday.


ShopRite Livingston had no fresh garlic today. Pretty well stocked otherwise. I had a big list and was able to find almost everything. They even had flour, which has been hard to come by there. No anchovy paste though. And running low on double-stuffed Oreos.

Odd selection of Haagen Dazs. Most flavors were cleaned out, (it was on sale for 2.88) but there was tons of pistachio. I happen to like pistachio, so that worked out, but it was odd.



When I did shop - last week - City market by Ivy Hill had more produce in stock then stop and shop.

I like Stop and Shop - they have wipes when you first come in - at least they did.

Also, I use the price gun.  If there a long line at the self checkout - you can bring the price gun directly to customer service.


Everything changes so quickly.My neighbor was at Whole Foods last week and said It was well stocked and not crowded. Today a friend was there and the line was so long she didn’t stay. Bank of America on Maplewood Ave was closed.They need a glass or plastic barrier between customer and teller.Their other banks are open.


West Orange Shoprited has been well stocked and not crowded weekdays. Limits on certain items. Plastic barrier between the cashier and client. Yes some paper products and cleaning items get depleted. 

One surprise a limit on frozen vegetables. I buy fresh veggies but thought it would help cut down my trips. The limit was 4 of any single or combo.

I tried to get a Shoprite delivery, that store does not deliver and Livingston slots were filled up as far as the eye could see. So I had to brave it. Used gloves, can't do a mask, too suffocating. 

For vegans, most of the things I buy were available, no surprise. But for those on here who are looking for certain ice creams, looked like a big variety. I get my vegan ice cream in that aisle as well

My other go to store is Trader Joe's but I know it is usually crowded so I'm spacing out trips.

For you backyard birders, time to buy white granulated sugar, the hummingbirds will be arriving in the next couple of weeks. The hungry males arrive first.  I'll post the dates on my Uncaged Bird thread, but they arrived in Maryland 10 days ago. I have an interactive map on that thread.


Trader Joe’s on Millburn Avenue was closed temporarily for cleaning when I went there yesterday. 


Sweetsnuggles said:

Trader Joe’s on Millburn Avenue was closed temporarily for cleaning when I went there yesterday. 

 It has been closed since Tuesday afternoon because 3 employees were showing signs of COVID-19. It is supposed to reopen tomorrow but I would check first. 


MaryGee said:

Sweetsnuggles said:

Trader Joe’s on Millburn Avenue was closed temporarily for cleaning when I went there yesterday. 

 It has been closed since Tuesday afternoon because 3 employees were showing signs of COVID-19. It is supposed to reopen tomorrow but I would check first. 

I hope they're ok. The employees at Trader Joe's are great and make shopping there a delight. I'm a regular customer but haven't been there probably for two weeks because the store is small and it's tough to maintain a social distance. I did read that they're only allowing 50 people in at a time but haven't tried it.   


Pulled off a successful grocery run early this morning at our local (WO) ShopRite. We arrived in time (6:15) to be the first two carts in the door (two carts, since we split up our shopping list for a shorter experience), and found the shelves to be well-stocked (with some disappointing, but expected omissions), the staff helpful as always (more cheery than usual, actually), and the store's excellent social distancing systems in operation.

And thankfully, there's a limit of 250 people (not just carts) allowed inside at a time, after which it's 25 out, 25 in.

We're both feeling fine, and we employed reasonable asceptic technique at every stage of this operation, so I hope to still be here 14 days from now.

I wish us all luck.

-s.


Does Shoprite consider me to be "elderly" at 61?  Friggin shoot me now and donate my body to Covid research.


Drove by Tj's Millburn at 10:45. There was a Q line out across the parking lot so I drove on..... tooooo.....

Maplewood Kings. No line. About 6 customers in the store + employees. Got my stuff and left. There were some bare spots on shelves but mostly stocked.


Shop Rite Millburn has hand sanitizer. It’s near the self checkout area. There’s a limit of 2. 


Hey sweet snuggles, what is the active ingredient in that hand sanitizer?.


Ethyl Alcohol - 62%. Here’s the label. 

mrincredible said:

Hey sweet snuggles, what is the active ingredient in that hand sanitizer?.

 


124 proof! The good stuff.


Shoprite in Essex Green this afternoon was well stocked except the triumvirate of hand sanitizer, toilet paper and paper towels. They had a few packages of store brand PT and TP. They had plenty of eggs but would only allow me to buy one carton (Mrs Incredible is making breakfast casseroles galore for friends).

Shoprite was only allowing a certain number of people. I had to wait outside for a few minutes and then they let a bunch of us in. Mostly people kept to social distancing rules but there were a few clumpers. 

Kings in Maplewood was pretty well stocked as well. Milk had been hit hard but there was still a lot to choose from. Plenty of eggs. There were individual rolls of TP and they were limiting people to a single item.

Plenty of produce in both stores. Meat was back to close to normal although ground beef was hard to find in Shoprite.


Hit-or-missism: Plenty of pasta at Stop and Shop today (on sale, too) but no green peppers or broccoli. There were presliced cold cuts, but the deli display case — full on Tuesday — was empty. Kings had plenty of green peppers and broccoli, and a better selection of 3- to 4-pound roaster chickens. Also picked up one of a few 12-roll packs of Cottonelle; I must have been there before mrincredible.


Millburn Shop Rite was fairly good this morning at 7:30.  I got peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, varieties of potatoes for fresh veggies.  Good meat case selection.  Well-stocked with all varieties of cat food (so the cats don't start complaining about the same-old same old).  Milk and juice.

AND a six-pack of paper towels.


nohero said:

Millburn Shop Rite was fairly good this morning at 7:30.  I got peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, varieties of potatoes for fresh veggies.  Good meat case selection.  Well-stocked with all varieties of cat food (so the cats don't start complaining about the same-old same old).  Milk and juice.

AND a six-pack of paper towels.

 FYI I saw a report this morning about a confirmed case in a cat, with symptoms.  Ugh.  If you're one of those people that lets your cat wander the neighborhood, maybe you should rein that in for now.


nohero said:

Millburn Shop Rite was fairly good this morning at 7:30.  I got peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, varieties of potatoes for fresh veggies.  Good meat case selection.  Well-stocked with all varieties of cat food (so the cats don't start complaining about the same-old same old).  Milk and juice.

AND a six-pack of paper towels.

 How busy (crowded) was it?  I was going to go at 7:00 but decided to wait a couple of days. 


cramer said:

 How busy (crowded) was it?  I was going to go at 7:00 but decided to wait a couple of days. 

 Not really crowded. I did not have to wait on a line to check out. They are keeping count and said they're limiting the number of people in at one time. 


bub said:

FYI I saw a report this morning about a confirmed case in a cat, with symptoms.  Ugh.  If you're one of those people that lets your cat wander the neighborhood, maybe you should rein that in for now.

 No, I'm not one of those people.


Wegmans in Whippany was reasonably well stocked yesterday at 9 am.  Plenty of meats, veggies, fruits.  Lack of frozen fruits and cleaning supplies as well as rubbing alcohol, hand sanitizer and hydrogen peroxide.  Tons and tons of TP/Paper, towels, water, milk, OJ, bread and eggs.

Practicing social distancing during checkout with clear instructions on when you are permitted to place things on the conveyor.  Cashiers were wiping down everything after every customer, some more diligent than others.  Most people patiently waited as the sign said, "Please wait behind the yellow line for further instruction."

Couple behind me asked if waiting behind the tape on the floor and wiping everything down after every customer was "really necessary."  Younger couple looked in their mid 20s-early 30s.  Everyone else didn't seem to mind.

Was orderly and controlled.  Many people wearing masks and gloves.

Went to CVS in Whippany and the store was pretty much deserted.  Tape on the floor at the Pharmacy window with large plastic sheeting separating the cashiers from the customers.  No sanitizer near the keypads.


A friend had a woman in CVS (not the SO one) stand so close behind her yesterday she could feel the woman’s breath on her neck. Stepped forward and turned and said something, politely, and the woman nastily replied, “Please. It’s nothing to get upset about.” So there are still plenty of morons out there as stores like CVS deal with setting up social distancing systems. (I feel like those people are somehow getting a different Internet providing different news at their house than I am.) 


Will Lysol or Clorox Disinfectant wipes ever return to the shelves?


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