Coronavirus: Bay Area shoppers clear grocery store shelves as anxiety ratchets up

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Crowds of shoppers lined up outside of Bay Area stores Saturday morning and quickly picked shelves clean of frozen foods, meat, bread and toilet paper, as anxiety over coronavirus led many to stock up on supplies.

Following a week in which the number of COVID-19 cases increased while efforts to contain the novel illness seemed to grow more restrictive by the day, the rush to stock pantries seemed to reflect the rising collective anxiety of a region that has been at the center of the pandemic’s outbreak in the United States.

Chicken and beef were practically gone from a Smart and Final in Pleasanton, which has limited how much of certain items — like hand soap, pasta, instant ramen, rice and beans — shoppers could buy to stop people from hoarding.

A line of people holding umbrellas and pushing empty carts waited in the rain outside a Costco in South San Francisco. And another location of the warehouse store in Richmond pulled down the garage door at its entrance because it had already reached its capacity less than half an hour after opening.

In Fremont, people who gathered outside a Target store early in the morning seemed to head straight for the toilet paper and paper towels once its doors opened at 8 a.m. They nearly cleared the shelves within a few minutes in an at times tense rush.

“You should just take one,” a woman said as some shoppers loaded two or more packages of toilet paper into their carts. Another shopper quietly responded that she should mind her own business.

The shelves of bread were bare at a Trader Joe’s nearby at 8:30 a.m. as more shoppers waited in long lines to check out. The grocery store’s frozen food aisle was almost empty as well, with employees working quickly to open up boxes and replenish the items they could.

Stores were consistently low on items like hand sanitizer and disinfecting wipes, which have been in high demand since the outbreak began to spread.

Still, it was unclear Saturday whether the panicked buying was necessary. While shelves quickly emptied at the Safeway store on Bird Avenue in San Jose, an employee restocking shelves said trucks would be coming in with more supplies Sunday morning.

Long lines and empty shelves of pasta and toilet paper greeted shoppers at another Safeway in Millbrae. Chelli Cuherpin, a customer services representative at the store, said workers have been restocking overnight, but things fly off just as quick.

“We get several trucks a night,” Cuherpin said.

Some shoppers didn’t trust that promise, though. San Bruno resident Pauline Young, who said she was feeling more anxious than usual, had come to the store to buy “non perishable stuff to last us a couple of months,” she said, “In case they don’t restock.”

Brandon Yang, of Daly City, said he was only picking up a few extra items while mostly just getting his usual groceries.

“I’m fine,” he said. “You don’t need to buy 20 rolls of toilet paper or 20 bottles of water.”

Shoppers at the Alemany Farmers Market in San Francisco said they were worried but not panicked about the ongoing coronavirus outbreak as they purchased fresh oranges, mushrooms and produce.

“The world’s a little upside down right now,” said John Kelble, who has been coming to the Alemany market for years. “I’m not sure what to expect.”

Helga Medina, of Medina Berry Farm in Watsonville, said she was concerned the market might shut down next weekend. Medina said getting her fresh strawberries isn’t the problem, but they’ve already had seven farmers markets close in one day.

“Things are not good,” she said.

While some are stocking up on supplies meant to last weeks at a time, farmers market shopper Meghan Cahill said she is not buying more than usual.

“We’re being mindful of having that stuff, and supporting these businesses while they’re open,” she said. “Hopefully they stay open.”

Bay Area News Group staffers Dennis Akizuki, Sarah Dussault, Karl Mondon, Linda Zavoral and Thomas Peele contributed to this report.

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