Local Grocery Store

People online think I'm greatly exaggerating when I say the local chain grocery store I used to shop in pre-Covid-19 (Stop and Shop) has nothing on the shelves a month after all this panic buying started.

These photos appeared on one of the unofficial Facebook communities geared towards residents of our city. They were taken Saturday, April 18th, during the senior shopping hour between 7 am - 8am. The woman who took them said they had a few containers of milk left in the dairy aisle, and a bit of cheese and yogurt, but suspected it would all be gone by the time she left the store. There was also some fresh food in the produce aisle, like apples, onions, a few bags of carrots, and some already brown and yucky bagged salads, but those salads were always that way even pre-Covid. This is how the rest of the store looked:

This is about how it looked the last time my husband and I walked in this store back on March 19th. That was the last time I was in any store, or the car, and the penultimate time out of the house. I had a podiatrist appointment the last week of March that's within walking distance, so no car ride.

People who live in other parts of NJ say their Stop and Shop store also looks like this still. Rumor has it (and managers deny it) that the company is neglecting neighborhood stores in favor of Peapod distribution centers. With what my son said his Target store may start doing by the end of this coming week (curbside pick-up or delivery only - stores closed to customers), I believe it.

I am so grateful for our neighborhood C-Town within walking distance of the house and Harmony House deliveries! Our son has even started buying stuff at Target when the night manager (Yes, our son is back to working night shift again) opens the registers during the dinner break. Every morning he's been bringing me home goodies, mostly in the form of toilet paper, Brita filters, and some canned goods our little store doesn't have. Tonight's Sweet Potato and Yellow Split Pea Soup is going to have dehydrated carrots, onions, celery, and even sweet potatoes. Let's see how it goes. This is the "new normal" around here.

PS - I see I was wrong when I said C-Town was a "chain of 5 stores" in other posts. I must have mis-heard the manager when he opened a few years back and he, personally, owns 5 stores. The chain itself is 140 stores, independently owned and operated. I guess I should read the store's website more often.