Weird Ways The Pandemic Is Changing The Way You Shop
Fiona Goodall/Getty Images By Ralph Schwartz/Updated: May 19, 2021 10:40 pm EST
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed our daily routines drastically, and in some cases permanently. One of the places where this has been felt the most is the grocery store. Some of the new trends are about what we’re buying. Oranges are more popular, as are frozen meals (via The New York Times). “There are two different reactions to COVID — a small number who are getting health conscious and reacquainting themselves with real food, and a larger group that is going with comfort food that is cheap and shelf-stable,” a dean of the the nutrition science school at Tufts University told The Washington Post.
Otherwise, just about all of the changes to our grocery-shopping habits answer the question, “How can we do this without getting sick or putting employees at risk?” Some of the changes at grocery stores can’t go away soon enough. We wait in lines just to get inside the store, due to restrictions on the number of customers allowed in at any one time (via Trader Joe’s). Also annoying are the one-way aisles that some stores decided not to keep enforcing because customers were complaining (via The New York Times). Meanwhile, other changes are proving to be so convenient, they will likely stick around after COVID-19 fades.
The pandemic means no free samples and no late-night groceries
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Before the pandemic, we took it for granted that we could shop for groceries whenever. Night owls, swing-shift workers heading home from work, and people who needed to restock the White Claw for their late-night house party (remember those?) could rest assured that Walmart and several other grocery stores were open 24 hours. The pandemic has prompted retailers to close each night, to give employees a chance to deep-clean and restock shelves (via NPR). Grocers are also setting aside certain hours exclusively for seniors (via Good Housekeeping). Younger folk have had to schedule their shopping to avoid these times.
Meanwhile, Costco brought samples back to some of its stores in June (via USA Today), but in-store eating doesn’t appear to be part of the experience. Photos on Instagram from @Costcoguy4u show prepackaged food items in one sample station, with the same items, cooked and on a plate, displayed inside a glass case. That’s probably as good as store samples are going to get for the foreseeable future. “It’s not going to be where you go and just pick up an open sample with your fingers,” Costco’s chief financial officer said (via USA Today).
Weird Ways The Pandemic Is Changing The Way You Shop
Fiona Goodall/Getty Images
By Ralph Schwartz/Updated: May 19, 2021 10:40 pm EST
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed our daily routines drastically, and in some cases permanently. One of the places where this has been felt the most is the grocery store. Some of the new trends are about what we’re buying. Oranges are more popular, as are frozen meals (via The New York Times). “There are two different reactions to COVID — a small number who are getting health conscious and reacquainting themselves with real food, and a larger group that is going with comfort food that is cheap and shelf-stable,” a dean of the the nutrition science school at Tufts University told The Washington Post.
Otherwise, just about all of the changes to our grocery-shopping habits answer the question, “How can we do this without getting sick or putting employees at risk?” Some of the changes at grocery stores can’t go away soon enough. We wait in lines just to get inside the store, due to restrictions on the number of customers allowed in at any one time (via Trader Joe’s). Also annoying are the one-way aisles that some stores decided not to keep enforcing because customers were complaining (via The New York Times). Meanwhile, other changes are proving to be so convenient, they will likely stick around after COVID-19 fades.
Otherwise, just about all of the changes to our grocery-shopping habits answer the question, “How can we do this without getting sick or putting employees at risk?”
Some of the changes at grocery stores can’t go away soon enough. We wait in lines just to get inside the store, due to restrictions on the number of customers allowed in at any one time (via Trader Joe’s). Also annoying are the one-way aisles that some stores decided not to keep enforcing because customers were complaining (via The New York Times). Meanwhile, other changes are proving to be so convenient, they will likely stick around after COVID-19 fades.
The pandemic means no free samples and no late-night groceries
Shutterstock
Before the pandemic, we took it for granted that we could shop for groceries whenever. Night owls, swing-shift workers heading home from work, and people who needed to restock the White Claw for their late-night house party (remember those?) could rest assured that Walmart and several other grocery stores were open 24 hours. The pandemic has prompted retailers to close each night, to give employees a chance to deep-clean and restock shelves (via NPR). Grocers are also setting aside certain hours exclusively for seniors (via Good Housekeeping). Younger folk have had to schedule their shopping to avoid these times.
Meanwhile, Costco brought samples back to some of its stores in June (via USA Today), but in-store eating doesn’t appear to be part of the experience. Photos on Instagram from @Costcoguy4u show prepackaged food items in one sample station, with the same items, cooked and on a plate, displayed inside a glass case. That’s probably as good as store samples are going to get for the foreseeable future. “It’s not going to be where you go and just pick up an open sample with your fingers,” Costco’s chief financial officer said (via USA Today).
Meanwhile, Costco brought samples back to some of its stores in June (via USA Today), but in-store eating doesn’t appear to be part of the experience. Photos on Instagram from @Costcoguy4u show prepackaged food items in one sample station, with the same items, cooked and on a plate, displayed inside a glass case. That’s probably as good as store samples are going to get for the foreseeable future. “It’s not going to be where you go and just pick up an open sample with your fingers,” Costco’s chief financial officer said (via USA Today).
Look for these grocery-store technologies to stick around
Noam Galai/Getty Images
