Stores Struggle to Stay Stocked During Coronavirus Threat

Photos by Ayshe Ali

By: Ayshe Ali, Editor|March 17, 2020

Photo By Gianna Provenzano

Aurora’s Jewel-Osco had a nearly empty bread aisle on Sunday. After President Donald Trump declared the coronavirus threat a national emergency, people rushed to stores to prepare for quarantine.
On Sunday, there was not much to choose from in the laundry detergent section of North Aurora’s Target. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has strongly recommended keeping surfaces and personal belongings as clean as possible.
North Aurora’s Target, like many stores in recent days, has placed a limit on the amount of certain products that consumers can buy. As sanitary products run low, many people have been buying them in bulk and selling them for a profit. Authorities have worked to crack down on these cases.
North Aurora’s Target had an empty toilet paper and paper towel aisle on Sunday. “Coronavirus is engendering a sort of survivalist psychology, where we must live as much as possible at home and thus must ‘stock up’ on essentials, and that certainly includes toilet paper,” Frank Farley, a professor at Temple University, told CNN.
Fruit baskets stand empty at North Aurora’s Target. NBC News said it’s important to stock your pantry and freezer with a lot of fruits and vegetables.
A Target employee stocks shelves in an effort to keep pace with shoppers. Some businesses have temporarily closed their doors or allowed their employees to work from home, but for those working at grocery stores, they’ve been facing a large increase in consumers.
Target’s pasta shelves also ran low on options on Sunday afternoon. People have been stocking up on pasta because of its longer shelf life.
Target’s yogurt section was also depleted on Sunday. Like many other sections of this store and so many others, it became difficult to keep up with the sudden onset of buyers.
The face mask section at Aurora’s Home Depot was also left empty on Sunday. Just like toilet paper, face masks have been a staple item people have been rushing to get.
Batteries also flew off the shelves at Aurora’s Home Depot. Batteries are very useful in case of an emergency, which many people are bracing themselves for.