These reports aren’t meant to alarm anyone – I just find it terribly interesting.
Vince doesn’t pay a lot of attention so this isn’t very detailed but still worth sharing.
Me: How did the stores look?
Vince: Walmart looked alarmingly low on stock.
Me: What seemed low?
Vince: I didn’t pay attention. I just noticed large, empty areas on the shelves.
He said Walmart hardly had any meat. He said there was a “limit of 2” but it wasn’t clear if it was two packages per “type” (chicken, beef, pork) or a limit of two packages of meat period. He bought two packages of ground beef and didn’t question the rule.
He said he saw no limits on milk or butter. He didn’t look at baking items such as flour and sugar.
At Aldi, there was a limit of two on the meat again. Same as Walmart – wasn’t clear so he just bought two more packages of ground beef. He said last week, Aldi had one section of meat that was empty and they have some kind of blind they pull down when it’s empty. Today they had two meat bins that were empty and closed. As I recall, they only have three, maybe four bins so to have two completely empty is a pretty big reduction. He said Aldi still had more meat than Walmart but Walmart has a huge meat selection so even with 2/3rds of it empty, I’m betting they actually had more pounds of meat than Aldi but . . I wasn’t there so I’m speculating.
Vince said it appears Aldi has “condensed” the groceries into smaller areas and has more “non-food items” – clothing, toys, crafty items.
Vince felt Aldi looked more well stocked than Walmart, but because Aldi has reduced their food area, according to Vince, they may have way less food now than they had three months ago, where Walmart may have close to the same amount of food they had three months ago and may be just short on some items.
Vince was able to get everything on my list. As I suspected, and as always happens when he goes to the store, he got a few extra things. Mostly it was fresh produce that looked good at Walmart – corn on the cob, zucchini, cherries. That may be all he added .. it’s all I can remember!
vivoaks says
At least Vince will go to the store. My hubby will only go to the Dollar Store for his donuts and maybe some other junk food, but that’s the only place he’ll go. He doesn’t mind sending me for something, but he won’t go to a regular grocery store or Aldi. I think you got a keeper, Judy!! 🙂 (And I’ve put up with mine for 43 years, so no sense in quitting now! 🙂 🙂
Judy Laquidara says
Vince loves to shop and that makes me so happy since I don’t like it at all. He would gladly go buy all my clothes if I asked. (I won’t ask!) Of course, getting him to follow the list and pay attention to what I’ve asked . . that’s another story. He got two of most everything when I only wanted one. I’ve said a dozen times . . if I don’t have a number by it . . get one. The tater tots had “x 3” by it. He got one. The Fruit Fresh . . I wanted 3, he got 6. The ziploc freezer bags, I wanted quart. The list said quart. Last night he asked and I said quart. He got gallon. But still, I didn’t have to go to the store so I’m not complaining.
Heather Sedlacek says
I’ve been to Walmart and a small local meat and produce shop. Our Walmart is pretty bare of anything dairy or meat related as well as soup and baking items. I actually took photos of the mostly empty meat cases because my husband wasnt believing me. There was finally a few packages of toilet paper available today, the first I have seen in 2 months!The local store is very well stocked with meat and dairy but they do have a 10 pound limit for meat.
Judy Laquidara says
A 10 pound limit sounds kinda reasonable. Here it seems to be a 2 package limit. Vince got two – 2 pound packages of ground beef or he could have bought two – 1 pound packages. Either meet the 2 package limit but one way you get twice as much meat (for twice the price). I divided it into four – 1 pound pages and vacuum sealed it.
Susan Nixon says
That’s interesting. I haven’t been in Walmart, but the grocery I go to when I don’t go to Aldi had plenty of meat today, all kinds, and I saw no limit signs. They still have a section with 5 pkg. for $20 – and it’s about $25 at the prices, so it does save a little. They had plenty of milk and cheese products, and I wasn’t looking for anything except egg salad and ice cream, so I didn’t notice if they had paper products, but they have the last several times I’ve been in.
So has Aldi’s, though I saw one meat section with the blinds pulled down last week. They still had plenty of the things I wanted, though. We are a large population area at the crossroads of I-40 and I-75, though, so I’m sure that accounts for some of it. Our gas is staying in the $1.43-$1.49 range except for ONE day last week, and I have no idea what that was about!
In both stores, though, I noticed that prices are up a little. I read that we have plenty of frozen meat, but it’s fresh meat that’s an issue. This is why most of the fast food chains except Wendy’s still sell the big burgers. Wendy’s only uses fresh meat, not frozen, so ours aren’t making any double patty burgers – the price of fresh makes it exorbitant for them to do it now anyway.
Heather Watts says
I am in Sydney Australia and everything is back to normal now i.e. items on shelves
Judy Laquidara says
That’s great to know!
Danielle Nabozny says
It is interesting how things are in different parts of the country. Went to store on Monday and the shelves are all full again. Lots of meat – no restrictions. Yes, prices have gone up but that doesn’t surprise me.
Judy Laquidara says
We heard about restrictions several weeks before they hit here so maybe everything is rolling through and things will be back to normal soon.
Joyce says
I went to our big Wal-Mart last Friday, since I needed/wanted some things that the Wal-Mart Market doesn’t carry. I didn’t notice that the food items seemed low, but I did notice the craft section was really low on stock. I’m guessing that is because Hobby Lobby is still closed, but it just startled me a little bit. The yarn section was quite low, and only about 1/2 of the fabric shelves were stocked. I wasn’t looking for anything in either section, so it didn’t concern me. (I could probably totally restock both sections from my stash…LOL) I just didn’t expect it.
Judy Laquidara says
Our Hobby Lobby opened back up a couple of weeks ago.