Went to Costco this morning about 10:30 am. I usually go in the morning midweek and it is generally not crowded. It was packed this morning. I almost turned around. They were out of water (they did have some kind of “alkaline” water that I had never noticed before. They were stripped of all paper goods. While people were generally orderly there were multiple instances of loud voices in the background. It made snowstorm buying look reasonable.
One thing that really pissed me off was that they continued to check receipts which caused a real bottleneck getting out (they don’t handle lines well in the best of times, but they are fast enough at the registers so it doesn’t usually make much difference).
This is Northern New Jersey. Has panic buying started near you?
I stopped in at Costco in Myrtle Beach on Saturday. There was a sign up front that something was limited to two per member, but I didn’t stop to find out what it was, although the thought briefly flashed through my mind that if they’d only sell me two, I wanted them both, but I was there to buy Tito’s Vodka and Kirkland scotch, so was on another mission and let it go. The liquor store was not affected by panic or limits. I usually stock up before hurricanes; concentrating on beverages you can drink without ice. I bought two handles (1.75 liter bottles) of the Tito’s and two of the Kirkland 12 year old blended, and took a flyer on the Kirkland 22 year old Speyside single malt. This wasn’t a hurricane shopping trip, I was passing through Myrtle Beach on my way from Charleston and my local Costco lacks a liquor store (stupid North Carolina liquor laws).
I was there this morning. Plenty of TP, I didn’t see any shortages, but it was packed for what normally is a slow time. That aisle was particularly bad, but didn’t notice any signs or rationing. I also noticed the clientele was considerably older and whiter than I’m used to.
Kirkland branded booze was $2.50 off if you buy 2 of any kind (so $5 total), but the American vodka was not included, only the French one.
Baking soda is cheap, I gotta get in the alkaline water game.
Had to go in for pet food, was pretty busy but got insane as I was leaving, every space in the parking lot full and people trolling the lanes waiting for people to leave–this is normally a weekend only thing. Completely sold out of most cough medicines, all out of the good Kirkland 400 pack exam gloves (pissed me off because I actually USE those year round and genuinely needed more medium size) paper towels have apparently become the new toilet paper because they were completely out and hand sanitizer is nonexistent. Nuckin’ futz. At least I’m now stocked in for 4-5 weeks worth of pet supplies so I won’t have to be doing THAT again for a while.
Same at our Costco also in northern NJ, I guess it could be the same one, but this was last week. No toilet paper, no bottled water except the “alkaline” stuff, noticeably more crowded than usual for the time. In the Whole Foods within walking distance of our house I noticed bottled water yesterday when we happened to be there for something else. Their prices aren’t that much higher that people wouldn’t strip their shelves also if really desperate for the item. Then again maybe the water was all gone at Whole Foods an hour after we left, maybe there was more water at Costco an hour after we left. But there’s obviously some panic buying going on. Earlier today at Target the ‘immune system booster’ section was empty, and the large OTC pain reliever section 90% empty.
I was in Target over the weekend and wanted to buy a box of Band-Aids (the box of assorted sizes, because I’m a klutz and regularly need Band-Aids) but that whole section of the store was missing quite a few products. I don’t know if it was because of this panic buying or just poor stocking on the part of the store.
Dang it.
I miss all the fun. I love panic buying. It feeds my hoarding tendencies.
I hate how the panic buying can self perpetuate. We have not done any panic buying, partly because I have already stocked us up on disaster supplies. But, we do normally buy tp from Costco, and we are getting low. Now I’m worried about being able to get it, and wondering if I need to stop at the grocery store and grab some before it disappears there too. I don’t want to contribute to the panic buying, so I’d like to just wait for it to be back in stock at Costco, but I can only wait so long…
Amazon had TP last I looked.
I have often said that the Clifton Costco is where humanity went to die.
Oh please; that’s what Smirnoff’s is for. The making hand sanitizer I mean.
I have some moonshine. But it would probably burn your skin off. Bad stuff.
Went shopping at the supermarket today. It was kind of quiet for midafternoon, I didn’t even need to take number at the deli. No shortages, there was a display full of sanitary wipes. I didn’t look for purell. Plenty of water of all kinds.
Upper valley New Hampshire.
They’re rationing toilet paper at our local supermarket in Cambridge, Mass.
Glad you’re managing all right in your area.
I just dropped in to say how much I appreciated seeing your username along with the thread title. 
Times like this make me glad I installed a bidet toilet seat. 
I went to the supermarket on the way home from work and as the cashier was ringing up my stuff, I asked her what stuff people had been panic buying. She said toilet paper, rice and booze. And there was a notice in front of the register that purchases of hand sanitizer and disinfectants was limited to four per customer.
I live in Los Angeles next to Burbank, and there is a Costco Business Center that’s closer to me than the main retail locations. This location tends to be a lot less busy since it’s more B2B oriented and does not have all of the same products as their main stores (not to mention that their advertisements don’t include Business Center locations), so the parking lot is typically less than half full when I go by on my way home from work.
When I went last week, I was shocked to find the parking lot completely full, with several cars roaming around to catch a spot as someone is leaving. Appalled, I just bailed out and figured I’ll go the next day. Since then it hasn’t eased up much, but the last couple of times I at least was able to find a space without too much hunting. Inside, there was an empty pallet that used to have one of the brands of cereal that was on sale, but at least the other brand that was on sale still had a couple of boxes left for me to snatch up.
They also seemed to be running lower on milk than usual, but not anything else I was looking for. That said, I did not bother to check for toilet paper, as I thankfully still have plenty.
The beer aisle at my Rite-Aid was well-stocked.