Many El Paso stores' shelves were cleared of toilet paper, water, bottled soaps, hand sanitizers and disenfectants as coronavirus fears increased nationwide.

"I'm finding it kind of ridiculous. People are taking it a bit far," Roy Cook, 53, said Friday morning as he walked through a Target store at 1901 George Dieter Drive in East El Paso, where an aisle usually filled with shelves full of toilet paper were empty.

Other aisles had empty shelves where high-demand products were wiped out. Much of the panic buying occurred Thursday, a store manager said.

"I don't understand the concept of the toilet paper (being gone)," Cook said.

That store and others in El Paso had not only sold out of toilet paper, but also bleach, alcohol, and cleaning products that officials have said should be used to disinfect areas in homes and work areas to help guard against the virus. Several stores instituted limits on purchase of the high-demand items.

El Paso had its first reported case of coronavirus Friday.

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A Sam's Club at 11360 Pellicano Drive in East El Paso had shoppers lined up from the back of the store to front late Friday morning. Most shoppers had two large packs of water and two large packs of paper towel, which were rationed to customers.

Monica Serrano, 38, said she came to the store because she had run out of toilet paper, and she couldn't find any Thursday night at Walmart and some other stores.

There was no toilet paper at the store, but Serrano decided to buy two large packages of paper towels and four large packs of water. She hadn't planned to buy water, but since "everyone is buying it, I bought it just in case," she said as she waited in a mammoth line.

"It's better to have it than run out," Serrano said.

"I'm starting to worry (about the coronavirus) because everyone around me is getting worried," she said.

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An assistant manager at the Target store on George Dieter, who didn't want his name used, said people were lined up outside the store Friday before it opened at 8 a.m., and quickly bought up the small shipment of toilet paper the store had received Friday morning.

The store had received several pallets of water, but when other sold-out products would arrive again wasn't yet known, he said Friday morning.

The Costco store in Bassett Place in Central El Paso had sold out of toilet paper and some other high-demand products, but had replenished some of its water supply by Friday.

Officials at Target's headquarters did not immediately respond for comments.

But in an online statement, Target CEO Brian Cornell said, "As demand for cleaning products, medicine, pantry stock-up items and more remains high, we're sending more products to our stores as quickly as possible." And stores are limiting the number of the high-demand products customers can buy, he noted.

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A spokesman at Walmart's corporate office in Arkansas said the company had no comments beyond what is posted on its online newsroom.

"As one would expect, paper products, cleaning supplies and other items are in high demand as customers prepare for the possible impact of COVID-19 (coronavirus)," according to a Walmart online statement.

"We are working to replenish those items quickly, including diverting products to areas of the country where they are needed most and routing deliveries directly to the store," the statement reads.

Kath McLay, CEO of Sam's Club, which is owned by Walmart Inc., said the stores are working to replenish high-demand products, including paper and cleaning items, "as fast as humanly possible."

Vic Kolenc may be reached at 546-6421; vkolenc@elpasotimes.com; @vickolenc on Twitter.