Finding toilet paper and bottled water in stores could become more difficult around Delaware in the coming days as consumers react in panic to the port workers’ strike along the East and Gulf coasts. This, even though such products are largely produced domestically. Scenes comparable to the March 2020 start of the COVID-19 pandemic are playing out at some retail establishments.
Stores around New Castle County, especially bulk warehouse stores, were slammed with shoppers buying large numbers of toilet paper and 40-packs of bottled water on Wednesday morning.
BJ’s in Newark was bled dry of its store-brand bath tissue by 11 a.m. on Wednesday. It had also gone through 21 pallets of 40-packs of bottled water.
Leslie Glassford, front end manager of the BJ’s, said the store had been slammed with customers for three days. She urged patience as stores try to keep up with demand for these products.
“Have patience, we are doing the best we can,” she said.
The Costco in Christiana was full of disappointed shoppers who found depleted shelves that usually held toilet paper and bottled water.