- Title: New Jersey shoppers stock up as coronavirus worsens
- Date: 13th March 2020
- Summary: CLIFTON, NEW JERSEY, UNITED STATES (MARCH 13, 2020) (REUTERS) SHOPPER WALKING PAST EMPTY AISLE OF TRADER JOE'S MOSTLY EMPTY MEAT AISLE MOSTLY EMPTY VEGETABLE AISLE EMPTY FROZEN GOODS SANITATION STATION LINE OF SHOPPERS VARIOUS OF COUNTER AT TJ'S WITH SIGN THAT READS, "DUE TO THE HEALTH AND SAFETY OF OUR CREW AND CUSTOMERS, WE WILL BE TEMPORARILY CLOSING DOWN OUR DEMO STATION" LINE ENTERING PARAMUS, NEW JERSEY, UNITED STATES (MARCH 13, 2020) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF TRADER JOE'S MAN WITH SHOPPING CART, WEARING FACE MASK IN PARKING LOT PREGNANT NEW JERSEY HOUSEWIFE, JESSICA ALI, LOADING CAR WITH GROCERY BAGS (SOUNDBITE) (English) PREGNANT NEW JERSEY HOUSEWIFE, JESSICA ALI, SAYING: "I'm a little concerned at the overall panic. I am pregnant and I'm due to give birth at the end of May. And I'm concerned with how that's going to affect my delivery. Right now, a lot of hospitals have put visitor restrictions, so it'll only be my husband and I, as of right now [present for the birth]." MORE OF ALI LOADING CAR / SON IN SHOPPING CART (SOUNDBITE) (English) PREGNANT NEW JERSEY HOUSEWIFE, JESSICA ALI, SAYING: "Right now, I'm trying to keep it calm. I'm trying to have it not change very much. I am a stay at home mom. So the only thing that has changed is my husband is working from home now and that's causing a little bit of chaos and having him home all the time." TEENAGER LEANING ON SHOPPING CART VARIOUS OF NEW JERSEY RESIDENT WHEELING SHOPPING CART / LOADING CAR WITH GROCERY BAG (SOUNDBITE) (English) NEW JERSEY RESIDENT SAYING: "It was quite crowded, and we had to wait outside for about 25 minutes before they let us in." NEW JERSEY RESIDENT, GUNJEET SAIN, LOADING GROCERY BAGS INTO CAR (SOUNDBITE) (English) NEW JERSEY RESIDENT, GUNJEET SAIN, SAYING: "I expected crowds. I was right. A lot of things were cleaned out, which is to be expected. I'm just glad I got most of the things I came looking for." VARIOUS OF SHOPPERS IN PARKING LOT / TAKING GROCERIES TO CAR
- Embargoed: 27th March 2020 21:56
- Keywords: New Jersey Trader Joe's coronavirus emergency shopping groceries outbreak stocking up
- Location: CLIFTON + PARAMUS, NEW JERSEY, UNITED STATES
- City: CLIFTON + PARAMUS, NEW JERSEY, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Health/Medicine
- Reuters ID: LVA001C4W18AV
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: American shoppers confronted a rush on goods and long lines at grocery stores on Friday (March 13), waiting to buy essentials like toilet paper, pasta, and bottled water, as a worsening coronavirus crisis stoked fears of shortages across the United States.
The run on certain goods prompted major retailers to enforce purchase limits to ensure stores shelves were not stripped bare.
Still, worried shoppers cleared out grocery and drug store shelves from Houston to Los Angeles to the New Jersey suburbs of Clifton and Paramus as the virus spread and President Donald Trump declared a national emergency to fight the spread of the disease, which has killed 41 people in the United States. Big businesses including Amazon.com have urged employees to work from home, while schools, universities and cultural institutions are closed across the country.
The shoppers were bracing for a full house. "The only thing that has changed is my husband is working from home now and that's causing a little bit of chaos and having him home all the time," New Jersey housewife, Jessica Ali, said outside of a Trader Joe's in Paramus, New Jersey. "I'm trying to keep it calm."
Indeed, Ali has just begun her third trimester of pregnancy, and is "concerned with how that's going to affect my delivery," she said. "I'm a little concerned at the overall panic."
Wegmans was packed with shoppers by mid-morning on Friday, hours after about 40 customers lined up waiting for the store to open. Some shelves were stripped bare of anti-bacterial wipes and food staples such as bulk rice and dried beans, and others were posted with signs limiting purchases of hand sanitizer and bottled water.
At grocer Fairway Market in Manhattan's Upper West Side neighborhood, shelves normally full of pasta, Oreo cookies, pasta sauce, crackers and toilet paper were depleted on Thursday evening. On the West Coast, grocery stores including Ralphs, Pavilions and Trader Joe's had sold out of products ranging from Lysol cleaning wipes to fresh eggs.
And at a New Jersey Trader Joe's in Clifton, rows where meat, frozen goods and bread should have been, it was noticeably sparse Friday.
"A lot of things were cleaned out, which is to be expected," New Jersey shopper, Gunjeet Sain, said outside Trader Joe's in Paramus. "I'm just glad I got most of the things I came looking for."
(Production by: Dan Fastenberg and Hussein al Waaile) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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