'Ridiculous' run on supermarkets leaves workers, shoppers shaking their heads

After working in supermarkets since the 1980s, Michael Moses, manager of Golden Dawn in New Kensington, never has seen anything like the influx of customers and buying sprees over the last several days.

One of the few stores that still had toilet paper and paper towels left Saturday afternoon, Golden Dawn is holding strong.

However, the mid-size grocery store ran out of fresh chicken by week’s end, and the toilet paper won’t last forever at the current rate of sales, Moses said.

He’s not so sure about how plentiful future supplies of toilet paper will be, however, given reports from his warehouse that the paper companies are running about three weeks behind with orders.

“This is uncharted water for us,” Moses said.

“I’m not sure why people are panicking.”

Golden Dawn customer Elisa Vagnozzi, 43, of Lower Burrell, recently witnessed another shopper several days ago in a Community Market buy $180 worth of toilet paper and bleach.

“I think it is ridiculous,” Vagnozzi said. “If we all bought our regular groceries, for two weeks instead of for three months, we wouldn’t be having shortages.”

A longtime food shopper, Kathi Biondich, 80, of Oakmont, was out of luck when she tried to buy toilet paper and paper towels at Walmart at the Pittsburgh Mills complex in Frazer on Saturday.

“It’s a mess. Shelves are bare,” Biondich said. “I feel bad for the families with kids who are home now.”

But it looked like families were, indeed, stocking up for the kids who will now be home for two weeks as Gov. Tom Wolf ordered the closure of all public schools in the state.

The Target store in Harmar was wiped out of things like pasta, water, toilet paper, medicine, soap, eggs, frozen meals and bread. A 20-year employee said they have never experienced such a run on goods.

At Walmart on Saturday, entire freezer cases were bare except for a stray package of Angus beef burgers.

Most of the lunch meat was gone, or not replenished Saturday afternoon as were some varieties of hot dogs and eggs. The snack aisle was starting to look a little thin as the potato chips were hit hard.

The toilet paper was wiped out and, surprisingly, there wasn’t much left in the plastic trash bag category. Bottles of disinfectant could be seen on some of the empty shelves.

On a positive note, there still were plenty of Twinkies and milk chocolate brownie bar mix left.

Dana Demko, 76, of Plum, was disappointed because there were no supplies left of her favorite drinking water and hand wipes.

“I’ve never seen anything like this as many years as I have been shopping,” Demko said. “People stocking up for snowstorms don’t compare to this.”

Beginning Sunday, all Giant Eagle and Market District supermarkets will open at 7 a.m. and close at 10 p.m., seven days a week, the company announced Saturday.

When supermarkets are closed, Giant Eagle said, all stores will be sanitized and shelves restocked.