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Panic buying, round two

Stores take steps to stay stocked in pandemic

OBSERVER Photos by Natasha Matteliano Almost all of the toilet paper and Lysol products are sold out in Walmart, the shelves riddled with signs that say “Attention Customers: To help serves as many members of the community as possible, we respectfully ask you to limit your purchase to 1 per item. Thank you for understanding.”

A second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic is looming in Western New York, which is why local stores have been seen placing limits on certain items again.

At the onset of the pandemic, several items including bath tissue were bought in bulk across the country, leaving many shelves empty. In April, it was almost impossible to find a stocked shelf of toilet paper in Western New York and all around the country as well. This led to stores limiting certain items for purchase to either one or two per customer order.

Though most of the signs were not removed in Walmart regarding limiting certain items during the summer and fall, at least in Walmart, Save A Lot, and Dollar General, the employees seemingly had stopped monitoring and counting the amount of certain items people were buying. With another incoming wave, though, Walmart is already re-enforcing these rules and monitoring the amount of certain products people buy.

The most popular limited items include toilet paper, Lysol, hand sanitizer, soap, wipes, and cleaning supplies in general. At Walmart, customers are limited to purchasing only one of each of these products. At Save A Lot and Dollar General, these products are not limited as of now.

Still, a process that has not ceased since April, Walmart is monitoring the number of people in the store at one time and does not exceed 20% of its normal capacity.

“We know from months of metering data in our stores that the vast majority of the time our stores didn’t reach our self-imposed 20% metering capacity,” a Walmart spokesman told CNBC. “Out of an abundance of caution, we have resumed counting the number of people entering and leaving our stores. We know from months of metering data in our stores that the vast majority of the time, our stores didn’t reach our self-imposed 20% metering capacity.”

Other stores, including Wegmans, are limiting other items such as facial tissue, napkins, peanut butter, and freezer bags.

“To ensure we have options available for customers in every category, we have spent the last several months sourcing additional suppliers, bringing in new brands, and working with our Wegmans Brand suppliers to build up our holiday and winter reserves,” Wegmans said in a statement.

Tops Markets has also updated their list of items that are not limited to customers, including household cleaners, bath tissue multi-packs, disinfectant wipes and sprays, oatmeal, peanut butter and sugar, among other items.

Visiting each store earlier this week led to the discovery of empty toilet paper and Lysol shelves in Walmart, empty toilet paper shelves in Dollar General, and oddly enough, fully stocked toilet paper shelves in Save A Lot. The fear of another “lockdown” may be the cause of this mass sell-out of these common, everyday items.

Save A Lot was the only store out of the three visited that had stocked toilet paper shelves.

Almost no toilet paper was to be found in the Dollar General in Dunkirk.

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