It started with toilet paper. It spread to hand sanitizer, flour, yeast, and bottled water. The shelves were bare in the stores, and they were “out of stock” at Walmart and Amazon, too. The public’s shopping protocol and habits have changed as well since Shushan Purim, the last time I set foot in a supermarket, where, I hear, markings on the floor direct you where to stand and walk and shoppers scurry about in masked anonymity. Why does it feel like shopping for my Pesach items is ancient history?
Fear of the virus is bad enough. Now we read about dairies pouring thousands of gallons of milk down the drain, meat plants closing, and agricultural businesses throwing away huge quantities of food, and we are gripped by fear. Will there be a shortage of food? Lest a panic attack strike before you finish reading this article, let me declare the good news and the conclusion up front: We are not going to starve!
The experts say that the problem is temporary disruptions as all the players along the supply chain – from farmer to retail store owner – adjust to our new pandemic lifestyle. According to the FDA, food is grown and packaged all over the country, and there are no nationwide food shortages. Moreover, I’ve been told by a reliable source that produce, cereal, and kosher meat and poultry are not a problem. And we can reassure the kids (and ourselves?!) that candy, snacks, and soda are also readily available.
Of course, the situation is in constant flux, and by the time you read this, flour and toilet paper may have been replenished at stores throughout the country. In the meantime, the Where What When explores the back-story of some of our local supermarkets’ supply and demand dilemmas, their updated delivery/pickup policies, and what the average Yossi is doing to obtain that daily essential, food.
Secret Shopper Report
I spoke first to the WWW’s “Secret Shopper,” someone very much in the know about all things shopping. He confirms that empty shelves are pervasive. “You can’t go to any grocery store and get flour – not Walmart and not ShopRite. Even in the Walmart out in White Marsh, I couldn’t find yeast. Stores everywhere are rationing because nobody knows what shipment is going to be delivered on any given day; all the suppliers are rationing. Every store is struggling.
“Today, BJ’s and Costco had toilet paper; both places had paper towels,” the Secret Shopper continues. “I was at both warehouses a couple weeks ago, and they were out. When it comes to water, every club has a limit of one; Costco has a limit of five. Graul’s Market in Towson says they have paper towels and toilet paper because they deal with four different suppliers; they claim they have everything.
“Laundry detergent does not seem to be a problem, but disinfectant wipes are hard to get, as is hand sanitizer. But a miracle happened,” our shopper tells me, excitedly. “I went to BJ’s because I needed propane, and they had hand sanitizer – with a limit of one!”
Not Shortages – Limits!
Avi Rosensaft, one of the managers of Market Maven, verifies the nationwide – probably worldwide – shortages mentioned above. But, he says, “We have yeast and plenty of Glick’s High Gluten Flour, which is basically the same as King Arthur or Pillsbury bread flour. You can use it for making challah and cookies. We hope to replenish our stock of the all-purpose flour by the time this article is out.
Avi says that chalav Yisrael milk is in short supply, especially right after Pesach. ““If we could, we would buy 500 cases so we would have enough for everybody for the whole week, but we are limited in the number of cases of milk we can buy at a time. We can also only buy a certain amount of flour. I call it ‘limited’ because calling it a shortage puts people in a panic mode. We are getting more every week but only a certain amount at a time. We are planning to get more toilet paper and soap, but that goes really quickly.”
Dovid Goldberg, the dairy/frozen foods manager at Seven Mile Market, agreed: “Baruch Hashem, we have been able to purchase the vast majority of our regular products. In some cases, we have had to go to alternative distributors, but you should find most regular items on the shelves, although we may not have the full breadth of variety that we would typically stock.”
“We ask people to understand that supplies are limited, but don’t panic,” said Avi. He advises calling the store before you come to save yourself a trip, in case the item you are looking for is temporarily out of stock. He concludes by saying that Market Maven adheres to the guidelines of the rabbanim and the local government. “We understand that not everyone can have a babysitter or shop alone; we are trying to accommodate those people as best we can. We appreciate our customers’ patience, cooperation, and loyalty during this time, and we also thank all of our managers, baggers, cashiers, truck drivers, and employees. Some of them are working double and triple overtime. Our meat department is going 24 hours a day, to make sure it can keep the shelves stocked. Everyone is pushing themselves to the limit to keep the community going.”
From Store to Home: Not to Worry!
Despite the stores’ adhering to COVID-19 guidelines, many, perhaps a majority, of the customers at Seven Mile and Maven markets are shopping online from home, and have had trouble completing their delivery orders. The time slots were just not there. Instacart, the shopping and delivery service that works with stores like Giant, Aldi, and Safeway, is having similar problems booking customers due to huge demand and shortage of delivery workers.
Seven Mile Market management recently announced an important change: “We are purchasing a lot of new equipment and increasing personnel,” the store announced on April 22. “As part of the effort to increase capacity, at this time we are only providing our curbside pickup option and not home delivery. With Hashem’s help, and with the Herculean efforts of our hardworking staff, we have already increased our weekly orders by over 100 percent. Our goal is to quadruple our original capacity.”
Seven Mile will be opening pickup slots for three days at a time until they reach capacity for those days. They may periodically open additional slots for the following day if possible. The management advises that it might be helpful to begin filling your shopping cart even if no slots are open, edit as needed, and have it ready to checkout when you see that a slot opens. Also, be sure to click on the “pickup tab” at the top of the checkout page as this is the only available option for now. The store also posted new shopping hours for the duration of the Coronavirus crisis. They are: Sunday through Tuesday, 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Wednesday and Thursday, 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and, Friday 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Market Maven did over 150 delivers during the first two weeks of the Coronavirus onset. As things got worse, they changed from delivery to exclusively in-store/curbside pickup. The slots filled up fast. They had 15 order slots on Sunday and Friday, and 30 on Monday through Thursday. That was the most they could handle. Just recently, that was upped to 30 on Sunday, 40 on Monday through Thursday, and 15 on erev Shabbos when it is a little more difficult.
To shop at Market Maven, says Avi Rosensaft, you go to marketmaven.com, log into your account (or create one). You shop – approximately 90 percent of the store’s products are online – and state your preferred order pickup date and time. As of this writing, Market Maven’s next available pickup date is May 3; however, the store was working on opening up more slots to accommodate more customers faster.
“Our shoppers and cashiers wear masks and gloves and sanitize their hands before they begin. They shop the order, pack it up, label it, put it away, and we ask our customers to call when they are on their way. When they’ve arrived at the store, they should either park or pull up to the store. If they request it, we will bring the order out to them and place it in their trunk, eliminating the need for them to come into the store. That is the least exposure, so we encourage that. Some customers do want to come into the store, so they pick up their prepaid online order from the front desk. We are currently trying to find more shoppers so we can fill more orders.”
Let Zeh Lozeh Do Your Shopping
For those who don’t opt for either in-store or curbside pickup, a wonderful new Baltimore-based volunteer shopping resource has been formed to help consumers during the pandemic. Zeh Lozeh will do your shopping for you. Originating in Toronto, it now functions in 15 different communities, including Yerushalayim.
“In Baltimore, Zeh Lozeh services anyone who is quarantined for any reason or is avoiding getting out due to health concerns or is having difficulty getting out,” an organization spokesperson told me. “It is pretty broad; we are trying to help whoever needs help right now. Generally, errands are covered by volunteers who are already planning to go to a particular store, so they are not putting themselves at additional risk.”
This is how it works: The person calls the hotline, which is manned by nine dispatchers. The needed errand is then posted on the volunteer chat, and whichever volunteer is able to do that errand responds privately to that dispatcher.
“Before Pesach, Seven Mile Market was very accommodating to Zeh Lozeh. They opened their online ordering system for us so that those in need of our service could fill in their order online and then Zeh Lozeh volunteer shoppers went in after hours to shop and deliver those orders.”
Zeh Lozeh volunteers sometimes drove far out to deliver items to those in need. Volunteers have received gratifying feedback from consumers who live even outside of our community, as these dispatchers’ WhatsApp texts testify:
“A woman in New York just called me that her father is in a rehab on Loch Raven Blvd., and all he wants is a box of egg matza for Pesach. She was actually crying when I told her we can help.”
“A woman told me that all she had left in her house was eggs and cereal and she wasn’t sure where she was going to turn. She saw our hotline number and called us. We happily shopped for her.”
To reach Zeh Lozeh’s Baltimore Coronavirus Chesed Helpline, call 410-996-4700. Anyone who is in good health, under 60, has not had the virus or been exposed to it to their knowledge, does not live with anyone compromised in any way, and is interested in volunteering, should please text/WhatsApp: 410-303-4696.
Shopping with Resilience and Humor
To find out about our community members’ new-normal shopping experiences, I polled shoppers: How do you get your groceries? Where, what, and how? I was not prepared for the deluge of descriptions. People really wanted to talk!
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Sarah: “This is me before Pesach: Put on my long machine-washable dress and washable jacket, mask, gloves, and sunglasses and drove to the store. I spent so much time trying to keep six feet away from people that I ended up circling the store umpteen times until I was able to access the more crowded aisles.
“Get to the car, change pair of gloves. Then I got all confused if I was supposed to change the gloves before loading the bags in the car or after. Before touching the driver’s door handle or after. Then, just gave up and said a little tefilla that Hashem keep us safe despite my inability to figure out the glove situation.
“Come home, throw all the clothes I wore into the washing machine, wash my hands and face, and then get all confused again. Was I was supposed to bring in the groceries before doing all that? Put on gloves and another machine-washable dress, bring in the groceries, unload groceries while treating the shopping bags like hazmat material, remove gloves and dress, and sink exhausted and frazzled onto my couch.
“This method proved too stressful on the day I somehow lost track of my (very full) shopping cart (two days before Pesach), and Nice Store Staff and I spent 10 minutes circling the store in search of the runaway cart. We found it, but I was done.
“This is me more recently: Luckily, my husband works as mashgiach in a grocery store. I have gladly rearranged our schedule so that he can go in a few minutes early to shop for groceries before starting work. This has also proven to be the more economical option, since (unlike me) he just gets what’s on the list.
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Ita Rosenblatt: “I have been getting groceries twice a week. I wear a mask and gloves. We unpack only perishables and leave the non-perishables sitting for a few days. Of course, hand hygiene after unpacking. It’s been interesting!”
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Baruch and Laya Bitman: “We are very fortunate to be able to get most of our food shopping completed through the kosher supermarkets. We also love planting and eating what we can produce in our garden. Of course, the weather has not been the best so far for this season. The best help has been the meals from Bnos, Mama Leah’s, and O’Fishel, to make sure our kids have the variety that they were getting from the hot lunches at school. It has been a great kindness thoroughly appreciated by so many people in our community. Ahavas Yisrael has gone above and beyond to help support this amazing community.
“My entire family would really like to give a huge amount of gratitude to Seven Mile and Market Maven for their endless work to make sure they were stocked so well – not to mention the extra effort of providing masks, gloves, limiting the number of people in the store, etc., to help limit the spread of this virus.
When it comes to non-food items, we simply go to Walmart or look online at Amazon. Although it has been an adjustment to work with this pandemic, we consider ourselves fortunate that we can manage to find what we need. Also, that our family has been healthy and stayed in touch with each other.”
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Laurie, Silver Spring, MD: “I went to work trying to buy the items we would need to deal with the Coronavirus. With Pesach coming, I had to buy items for the chag as well. Unfortunately, I lost track of what I had to buy and what I had already bought. Some things were coming immediately, and some items wouldn’t arrive for weeks, as Amazon was backlogged and prioritizing essential items.
“So here is one example of my “oops! shopping.” (That’s what my kids are calling it.) I saw a great deal on Listerine mouthwash. I wanted the really strong kind, where you feel the germs being killed – that brown, original flavor that almost no one buys anymore. Well, I bought a case. But in order to get the best price, I bought it as Subscribe and Save. So I don’t know how, but I ended up with three cases of extra-large bottles of Original Listerine, enough to last for years! So I ended up giving most of them away on our community listserv.
“Another of my oops-shopping examples was masks. Weeks ago, I anticipated the need to have masks. I didn’t think that in the end, my daughter would be making washable pretty ones, nor that I would actually be given two N-95 masks that really work to block out potential germs. Instead, , I purchased cases of disposable masks that wouldn’t arrive for weeks. Well this week I received all my packages: seven cases of masks. Most of them are junk, so I could return them, or have to double them up. What else? Let’s see, I have a storage shelf full of foam hand soaps in various scents and dispensers and lots of disinfecting wipes. Oh, and lots of latex-free gloves in small, medium, and large! Gotta laugh – or cry – when I look at my credit card bill.”
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Lea Milgraum, White Oak, MD: “I now schedule regular, once-a-week pickup times at Giant. I keep filling up my virtual basket all week long, then ride up, and they put it in my minivan. I also advertise this on our shul’s listserve and invite people to add what they need.”
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Ms. Anonymous #1: “It’s just me, my brother, and my parents at home. My parents are over 60 and don’t go out much, so we get our food with the help of my married brother and brother-in-law who live in town. They shop erev Shabbos and erev Yom Tov for the week. So far, we buy the basics and take out; we’ve experienced no food shortages and we’ve been happy getting what we need. They are careful to wear gloves and a mask when they go shopping, and they leave the bags by the door. We do not disinfect the items brought in. We’re learning to manage with what we have. I have gone out shopping twice, to buy fruit. I wore mask and gloves, but each time I came home feeling sick, needing to rest and take Tylenol. So, we leave the major shopping to my brothers.”
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Hannah Heller: “I am mostly getting my groceries in person, unfortunately. It’s very hard to get essentials from Amazon, and I hear horror stories about Instacart. I just make my visits as quick and as infrequent as possible. It’s so creepy going into a grocery store and everyone is wearing masks and gloves. It feels like one of those science fiction shows, like ‘Twilight Zone’ or ‘Outer Limits’ from the old days.”
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Ms. Anonymous #2: “We order whatever we can online from Amazon, Target, or Walmart. Then one item is delivered about once a week. Most items we want are out of stock. The items in stock are overpriced. Money is not really an issue now. With unemployment while still paying tuition for a home school we never signed up, it’s good we have credit cards. But I digress….
When the box arrives, we all run to the door. An activity. We inspect the box with our eyes and try to guess what’s inside. Anyone guilty of touching the box with his shoe has to immediately remove the incriminating evidence and spray it down with Lysol. Said box remains outside. After 72 complete hours, someone wearing a space suit, gloves and an N-95 mask gingerly lifts box (after bleaching it), takes out package, places box in recycling. Then removes gloves, uses napkin to turn on sink, another napkin to apply soap, sings “Happy Birthday” (we have been celebrating half- and quarter- and one-month birthdays; another free activity) while washing hands. Then removes item. Oops. Ordered the wrong thing. Place in pile “things to return to Amazon” during A.C. (After COVID).”
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Miriam: “I get my food using delivery services and also having friends and neighbors pick up stuff once in a while. For delivery I’ve used Shabsi’s, A-to-Z, Market Maven, Kosher Bite for wine, Shoppers, and Tov Pizza. For curbside pick-up, I’ve used Market Maven, pharmacy, and Savings Center. At the beginning we were in quarantine, so had a friend’s teenage daughter get us hand matza and other essential items for Pesach. I’m also part of some WhatsApp groups where people have been helping each other with getting stuff they need. I’m making do with fewer products and making more homemade stuff, including homemade bagels for the first time ever!”
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Leeba Leichtman: “How we get our groceries? It’s an art. As I can’t go shopping with my kids – and there are no babysitters or play dates – I do it by calling in favors from assorted family members, organizations, friends of my sister, and more. You have to describe exactly what you want – for example, ‘Two J & J cream cheese containers, the green type with veggies for my older son, and the pink with no veggies for my little one! No pressure, of course, but leave either out and we’re doomed...’)
“But then you gotta be chilled when the inevitable call comes: ‘Umm, hi, they’re all out of Dagim fish sticks.”
“Okay, no prob. How about Schindler’s?”
“Well, about that, actually, the whole fish freezer is basically empty. Want me to pick up gefilte fish instead?” *(This convo is only somewhat fictitious). It’s the old preschool rule: You get what you get, and you don’t get upset.
“When the groceries are delivered, you pay back through Zelle because you’re not about to hand over a check that you touched. But you get more than just groceries; you get bags full of caring and kindness, and your heart overflows with gratitude and pride for being part of a people whose incredible members still manage to think of others under these circumstances. Who is like Your nation, Yisrael!”
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Raquel Betesh: “I’m taking it day by day (or minute by minute!). Overall, I have been trying to be thankful and grateful for what we have. It’s challenging having kids home, and keeping up with laundry and cooking, but I know many people who are struggling with infertility or are single and would love to have a family to drive them crazy! As hard as it is to be with kids, it’s harder to be alone. In terms of shopping, I’m loving having an excuse to go to the store all alone! The longer the line the better! It’s a break from all the craziness.”
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Miriam Mandel: “Ever since I last went to Seven Mile Market, about five weeks ago, we used the delivery service until that was no longer available. Then we did pickup. There have been much longer intervals between our grocery orders because there are never slots available when you need them. We are surviving on whatever is in the house. We are really getting creative with stuff in the house. We are not hungry, though, and have everything we need.
“It was a little frustrating with the online order – some items or their quantities were not correct, and I had to sell some things that I couldn’t use. I posted these new, unused items on N’shei Pickwick and was really surprised by how many people responded. Then I realized that people would much rather come to my house than go to the store.
“We’ve been doing lots of Amazon, Walmart, and Costco. I’m used to getting everything on Amazon, but because of the shortage of items, I can’t. With the shortages at Costco and BJ’s, I find my memberships kind of useless. I ordered on Deer Park’s website for the first time to get water; it was a ridiculous price on Amazon. And, I found myself on four different websites just to get baby wipes. When I thought I found a good deal on tissues on Amazon, I realized the shipping cost – $50 to $80– cost as much as the tissues! Baby wipes were hard to find. I ordered from Walmart, and they took a few weeks to come. Baruch Hashem, it is fine. We are managing. We are grateful to be healthy and our ‘problems’ are nothing more than this.”
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Chani Abrahams: “We are taking social distancing very seriously so are avoiding going into the stores. I personally haven’t entered any stores since two days after Purim, but my 18-year-old son did go shopping for us twice since then. Otherwise, we are managing mostly with Seven Mile Market pickups. They are working around the clock and offering an amazing service. It’s not always easy to get a slot, but we are managing with whatever we have in the house between pickups, b”H. It’s also frustrating when items in my order are not in stock... right now going crazy looking for yeast to bake my own challas! I have flour but no yeast! We also bought the after-Pesach grocery boxes that were offered. That was a fantastic idea. We are so grateful to Ahavas Yisrael and Seven Mile Market for working so hard at all this!”
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Sarina Laghaei: “We have made infrequent Walmart trips for the items that say the dreaded words of “in-store pickup only” into a family outing! We pile everyone into the car, and now, during Sefira, we choose a kid’s story – most recently from Rav Fischel Schachter – and drive over to Walmart. When we arrive, my husband puts on his gloves and face mask and heads to wait in the line to get into the store while we drive around the parking lot listening to the story. At some point, my husband video calls to check that the items he is buying are the right ones (since he is not the one who usually goes on these errands). Then we pick him up and drive home with our five items that we could not order online. The first question the kids always ask when we are pulling up in front of our house is: “Do we need to wash our hands? We did not touch anything!”
