Barbara

Good luck getting anything much from Vons today. I went to my local Vons at about 11:20. No line to get in, long lines at each checkout. They're using every other checkout so that somewhat explains the lines. When I came out at 12, after the long checkout wait, there were about 30 people waiting to get in. The store was fairly well stocked, though and the sushi lady was there. I meant to go back and get some and I forgot. There is now a one-way system for the main aisles which clashes with the lines for the checkouts. They also weren't letting anyone into the store if they didn't have some type of face covering. I haven't seen it that busy since the day the school closures were announced!.

mlgb

Yeah, I changed my mind and did takeout from my favorite Thai Restaurant instead.

Maybe Monday.

jamie99

Lead time for grocery delivery is 4-6 days from my local Von's and Ralph's, with Instacart it varies a lot, sometimes it is days, other times they have a free shopper in the area and you can get it the same day.
There are also weird shortages and limited selection that cannot be explained by hoarding or stockpiling, like air freshener or Aspirin. There may be a shortage of truckers if some are staying home for a week or two.

marg

I thought you may be interested in how Australia is handling the shopping problem. We have three major supermarket chains here and a few smaller ones. They have all stopped their on-line shopping service except for disabled people and/or retirees with a government pension card. You have to provide this on-line before placing an order. Hub supermarkets are now closed until 11 am to allow for packing and processing on-line orders for these people. Other supermarkets open between 7 am and 8 am on Monday, Wednesday and Friday exclusively for disabled and/or retirees, or carers. On Tuesday and Thursday, the same thing happens exclusively for health and emergency service employees.

We had an unexpected rush on toilet paper (heavens knows why) early in the piece resulting in very hot tempers in some supermarkets. That has balanced out now, but we still experience very lightly stocked shelves for some items and I guess we all need to work out what we can buy and cook instead.

Most people are handling the lack of freedom with common sense and dignity but there are always the idiots who think the rules don't apply to them.

Barbara

That sounds awfully sensible, so I can't see it happening here. We do have early hour shopping for high-risk/disabled/seniors at our supermarkets. Here it's Tuesday and Thursday, but it's not the same everywhere or at every market. I think Trader Joe's has it every day from 8-9. I haven't heard about an early time for healthcare workers and first responders, also a very sensible idea. Costco allows any healthcare worker to go to the front of their line if they show their work ID at any time of any day.

Jean

As Barbara said, it's hit or miss here.

If we had coherent leadership starting at the federal level, there might be more sensible approaches to a lot of things like grocery shopping. But the U.S. is enormous and extremely diverse, so the needs of urban/suburban/rural/remote areas are best addressed at local levels. Some officials are better/smarter at this than others are. Some citizens exercise science-based common sense and others don't.

mlgb

No, I'm really not interested in a country with only THREE major supermarket chains. Given that California has more people than Australia, the retail situation is quite different.

I can think of 10 different supermarket/grocery brands within a 10 minute drive, that doesn't count Walmart, Target, Costco, 99 Cent Only, Grocery Outlet, Dollar General, and the mom and pop carnicerias as well as the Asian chains such as Hannam, 99 Ranch, Island Pacific, Mitsuwa, etc. Nor the likes of Walgreen, CVS, RiteAid (drugstores).

jamie99

Both Ralph's and Vons have an early hour for seniors daily M-F
Watching Governor Newsom press conference, he says tomorrow he will announce some easings of closures for certain groups and is working with governors of Oregon and Washington on the same issues.

Barbara

At my Vons, it's only Tuesday and Thursday.

mlgb

The Vons I normally went to most often has a much better setup than the neighborhood Ralphs. I won't be going to that Ralphs again for the duration. Clearly that store's management is not taking things seriously.

I forgot to include Trader Joe's in my count of 10 grocery chains. I also didn't count Albertsons (owned by same company as Vons), Foods for Less (Kroger), Sam's Club (Walmart), Winco, or Lazy Acres. There are too many stores brands to count, basically..

Barbara

Wow! You have a lot of food stores close by. Within a ten minute drive, I have Vons (2), Albertsons, Ralphs(2), Trader Joe's(2), Sprouts(3), Costco, Target(2). I'm not including CVS as a food store, or 7-11. I almost feel deprived! LOL!

Jean

Don't forget the mini-marts at some gas stations!

My nearest CVS has grocery staples (nothing fresh) and a dairy case.

mlgb

And I didn't even count individual stores. Close by are 2 Vons , 2 Ralphs, 2 Smart & Final, Sprouts, Stater Bros, Superior, Northgate-Gonzalez, Gelson's, Aldi, Whole Foods (the first 10 I remembered ), PLUS 14 more.. Foods 4 Less, Albertson's, Trader Joe's, Lazy Acres, 2 Target, 2 Walmart, Costco, Sam's Club, Winco, 2 -99 Cent Only, 2 Grocery Outlet, Dollar General, Island Market, & Mother's (another one I forgot). So there are over 30 physical outlets near me. We have Tesco to thank for many of the small format ones. Their Fresh & Easy stores built from scratch are now ALDI, Grocery Outlet, Island Market and Mother's Market.

The large Asian ones are actually a bit farther in Gardena/Torrance or Artesia/Cerritos. I haven't counted neighborhood and convenience stores, drug stores, bakeries, delis, etc.....

A point lost on one earlier post in the Lounge, is that real estate here in SE LA County is easier for food outlets from a size and cost perspective. Some of the huge stores (eg Costco Signal Hill) were built on abandoned industrial lands and assisted by the former Redevelopment Agencies. There are also a ton of neighborhood and mid-sized shopping centers as a legacy of the post-war through '80s suburban development pattern.

By the way, I noticed Cottonelle TP in either Von's or Ralphs yesterday, but don't need any. Baking supplies seem to be the new toilet paper.

aliced

Oh how I love Trader Joes...... was "trained" years ago in CA to always bring my bags always, and now even TJs is using their own, new paper bags, doubled yet! But arriving at 8:30 let the first crowd of us seniors in, so arriving at 8:30, I went right in. Not having a liquor department at this one (east coast in Jersey), cut down our shopping time to in/out under half an hour. They have just about everything we need including an extra dozen rolls of TP. Another farm market is making you download their order form via PDF and email it back to them at 8 a.m., but too complicated.... we only have "read" Acrobat, and now picked up bags of salad at TJs at half the price. And their croissants are almost as good as from the French Pastry Shop on ECR in Encinitas! My son is Carlsbad is doing Costco runs and to Vons or sending his teen & her boyfriend. You Californians should be proud of your low numbers -- late last week was only at 16K statewide, and here in my daughter's Bergen County NJ (HOTSPOT flanking Manhattan), was 9K alone! She is only ordering online, and her twelve-year-old figured out how to change refresh code from 60 sec to 5 sec which got her Whole Foods delivered in a day.

socaltraveler

Thanks to NextDoor, I have found a local bread bakery which is also selling containers of yeast and 5 lb bags of flour. And bread. Another hole in my infrequent grocery shopping filled in.

Barbara

mlgb, baking supplies are indeed scarcer than toilet paper now. I needed sugar the other day and Vons had no ordinary white granulated sugar. I got one of the few remaining packs of brownish pure cane sugar left. I hope it will be ok in tea.

MmePerdu

I'm a tea drinker & have always preferred the beige sugar (turbinado, unrefined, called different things by different producers). It sometimes comes in larger granules, Sugar in the Raw is one, which I like less because they take longer to dissolve. But in general it's my favorite in tea. Usually available organic in bulk though I noticed the bulk bins have been covered at my Raley's. Shopping has become an adventure & I'm finding of necessity changing some of my old buying habits, not always a bad thing.

mlgb

Yes, our bakeries (and breweries) are also sellling some staples, as are some of the restaurants.

I found out the hard way that my baking powder was too old

don't bake much anymore (have a breadmaker but more often it's for jams or bread sticks than cookies and cakes).

In my pantry/refrigerator clean out I found a nearly-full 2lb bag of active dry yeast that is 10 years old. I think I'll test it with a little warm water to see whether it still is "active".

Barbara

10 years old! LOL! I once forgot about a big can of pineapple juice at thh back of the bottom shelf of my pantry. One day it exploded. Icky sticky mess everywhere. My son still doubles over laughing even though this happened maybe fourteen years ago.

dreamon

Do you feel better, mlgb? Guessing you wrote before your morning coffee?