SAN JOSE — A line of shoppers who were scouting for scarce supplies snaked past a south San Jose Target store on Thursday, while Safeway launched its seniors-oriented shopping hours at Bay Area stores amid binge buying in response to the coronavirus panic.
Some highly sought items such as bottled water, eggs, pasta, meat, and canned goods were visible in limited amounts on store shelves Thursday morning soon after some Safeway and Target stores had opened, but supplies of a crucial item — toilet paper — remained meager.
At multiple Target and Safeway stores in San Jose, toilet paper sold out within minutes after the doors opened for the day, this new organization’s observations and inquiries showed.
Safeway, Target, Whole Foods, Zanotto’s, and Walmart have either instituted or announced plans to soon begin special periods of shopping on certain days that are designed to give senior citizens and other vulnerable or at-risk residents a dedicated time to conduct commerce in the stores.
Pleasanton-based Safeway and San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo announced that supermarket’s program on Wednesday. Thursday was the first day that Safeway offered hours oriented towards seniors.
Still, some shoppers were dismayed that they were unable to find products in the Bay Area despite these extraordinary — yet fledgling — efforts by retailers.
One shopper’s complaint on Thursday evoked memories of the bread lines and often futile hunts for essential items in the now-extinct Soviet Union of decades ago.
“The Bay Area is like Russia,” one Safeway patron was overheard to say while shopping at a San Jose store.
