On Saturday night, before the arrival of the delivery trucks, items remaining on otherwise empty shelves looked almost forlorn, like rejects on the island of misfit groceries. There was the gefilte fish… and the sauerkraut… and the squid-ink pasta… and, of course, we’ll always have Peeps.
Blog
Wegmans issues a polite suggestion that you stop hoarding
Wegmans posted the following press release this morning: We want you to know, we are here for you, and our doors remain open. Our people are giving their very best to serve you. We recognize you may not find everything you expect at the moment and we appreciate your understanding. If we can all please…
The rush, and then the emptiness
The public response to the Wegmans announcement that it was curtailing hours? Another stampede. This is more than panic buying. It’s an insatiable need to do something, to connect with a trusted provider at a time when other sources of support are shutting down or failing. (School closings and event cancellations are justifiable; the lack…
Use the Purell!
Most of you seem to be ignoring the sanitizer stations Wegmans has set up at store entrances. Please don’t. Note the sign below the dispenser: Attention Customers: We politely ask that you apply hand sanitizer before you enter our store. The stations are not only for your protection, but for that of store employees and…
Wegmans cuts back hours
Wegmans has announced a change in shopping hours, so it can clean and restock stores. The temporary hours will be: NYS (excluding Brooklyn) and Erie, PA: 6 am – 12 am New England, NJ, VA, PA (excluding Erie), NC: 6 am – 11 pm MD: 6 am – 10 pm Brooklyn: 7 am – 11…
Survival shopping
They came. They saw. They bought. And bought and bought and bought. They bought, at times, merely because they could. One woman purchased eight bottles of ranch dressing. A man in his 30s cleaned out our supply of rigatoni. “I haven’t eaten pierogies in 20 years,” another man told me. “But it’s what you had.”…
Wegmans denies coronavirus rumor
Wegmans just tweeted this message, denying that an employee of one of its stores in Monroe County, NY, has been diagnosed with COVID-19 : It has come to our attention that a rumor is circulating which states the person in Monroe County who tested positive for COVID-19 is Wegmans employee and we are closing our…
Enough with the conspiracy theories
In the break room the other night, I praised a fellow worker for how assiduously he washed his hands. Bad call on my part. My comment launched a bombardment of claims about nefarious activities across the globe. My coworker told me that coronavirus was invented at a university in the Carolinas and sold during the…
Wegmans issues statement on coronavirus
Wegmans has issued a release on the coronavirus, echoing what we’ve observed on the front lines: People are loading up on items much as they do in anticipation of major storms. “Shopping trends are mimicking what we see leading up to a weather event,” the company said in the statement. “Customers are stocking up on…
The four horsemen: Purell, soap, paper towels and flour
Because of widespread concerns about coronavirus, Wegmans has limited the number of hand sanitizers and related products that customers can purchase. Shoppers can buy up to three of each. But so many other items are flying out of the store. Paper towels and toilet paper. Flour and sugar. Everyone seems to be washing and baking…