Shopping Trip

I took a shopping trip into the city last Monday. I was kinda on autopilot (I hate shopping), following the list in my hand without much thought as I made stops at my three usual places: Costco, Cash’n'Carry (now called Smart Food Service), and Winco.

At Costco, they had toilet paper (but not the Kirkland brand, my preferred choice). Also, I wanted to pick up two jugs of laundry detergent, but was limited to one. (Why, I don’t know.) Needless to say, anti-bacterial wet wipes were out of the question.

It wasn’t until I was at Cash’n'Carry (a wholesale restaurant-supply store), trying to find a jug of dish soap, that I snapped out of autopilot and realized there were a lot of empty shelves. A lot. Here are the big gaping holes where the dish soap normally is:

I also couldn’t find a bulk bag of red lentils. After seeking the assistance of a store clerk — and after he pointed out the empty shelf where the lentils would normally be — I inquired why the store was so bare. “Well, we’re expecting a shipment in tomorrow,” he explained, then added, “but we’re not getting everything we order.”

This was confirmed by a different clerk, explaining to another customer that they’re “lucky” to get in 75 percent of what they order.

So I went back through the store and photographed some of what I saw (or rather, didn’t see). Sorry for the blurry photos, I was trying not to be too obvious with the camera.

Then I moved on to Winco, where most of my purchases were in the (fully stocked) bulk section. But, curious, I wandered by the meat department and saw this:

So there you go. That was my monthly shopping trip.