Police and fire crews were dispatched to the scene just after 5 p.m. Authorities used a robot to remove the device from the vehicle and inspect it.

The Whole Foods was not evacuated, but Wilson said the situation created a substantial disruption in the shopping center.

“I’m sure that it significantly impacted businesses in that area,” he said.

Page said she returned to her car from grocery shopping to find it cordoned off with yellow police tape.

“I asked, ‘Is it OK for me to go to my car?’ ” she said. “They said, ‘We need to talk.’ ”

Page said she explained the situation to police before the county’s bomb squad responded.

“It was an obvious fake, and they were pursuing it as though it was an intentional hoax,” she said. “That would be a horrible thing to do to people, and it’s not anything about who I am.”

Page questioned whether it should be legal to sell such items.