11 Shoppers Share What It's Like At Supermarkets Across The Country During The COVID-19 Pandemic

The grocery stores here have limits on how many people can shop in the store at once, meaning shopping with your best friends/parents/loved ones is a thing of the past, at least for now. Yeast, sugar, and flour are hard to come by, and we have limits on paper towels and toilet papers per customer. My family has relied on King Arthur Flour deliveries because it's useless to keep searching for flour at this point. I'm fortunate to be quarantining at home with both my parents who served in the Navy, so we have access to a commissary and exchange where we can go shopping with fewer people in lines. While shopping, you can expect Clorox wipes for your cart at the door, each aisle to have arrows to direct traffic as if it's a one way street, signs asking limited you to just one hand soap or bleach, 6-foot markers as you head to the check out, and large plastic barriers to separate you from the cashier. Everyone is wearing masks in the stores (it's required in Rhode Island), which feels comforting. But as a community, Newport is lacking in the mask-wearing department. People blatantly will walk by you as you have your mask on, with theirs dangling by their side. We're moving into phase three very soon here, and with tourists coming in by the hundreds, the mask-wearing will only become a bigger problem.

I avoided going into a grocery store for nearly three months, opting to do delivery when possible instead. Eventually in mid-June, I made my first visit to a small, local Ingles around dinnertime on a weeknight. Only about half of the people I spotted in the parking lot were wearing masks; I saw some people pull theirs on when entering the market. Inside, there was a dispenser for disinfectant wipes—which was empty. The aisles at this particular market are relatively wide, and you were allowed to walk down them whichever direction you wanted. Most must-haves were in stock (milk, flour, bread), but the cleaning aisle was pretty wiped out. Toilet paper and paper towels were available as were most laundry detergents, but soap, wipes, and hand sanitizer were impossible to find. By the checkout lines, there were yellow lines on the floor spaced 6-feet apart, indicating where you should stand and wait. All of the cashier stands had plexiglass shields installed to block shoppers from employees, and all who worked at the store (stockers, cashiers, deli department staffers) were wearing masks and gloves. Overall, I felt capable of maintaining a good distance from most people, but not everyone adhered to CDC guidelines as strictly as I've been.

Our grocery stores are by no means "business as usual," but they definitely feel less chaotic. There are no longer lines outside of the store to get in, but you still have to enter through one specific door and exit out of another. Inside, aisles have become one-way lanes with markers and signage to indicate in which direction traffic should flow. There are also markers on the floor in the checkout lines to keep customers waiting in line six feet apart from each other. So far all customers and employees have been wearing masks. For the first few weeks certain cleaning supplies, especially Lysol and Clorox wipes, were completely sold out. Now hand sanitizer is readily available, and Clorox and Lysol wipes are starting to slowly reappear in stores. Brand names are hard to find, though. This is also true for things like toilet paper and paper towels. These cleaning supplies, and other essential items like chicken, were being sold in limited quantities (i.e. one can of Lysol spray per customer), however these limits have started to lift. Things like eggs, milk, and bread have been well stocked throughout the entire lockdown.

Since Flemington is a small town, grocery stores are never really all that packed. But at the beginning of quarantine when people were first stocking up, there were longer lines and crowds. Across the board, everyone is wearing face masks or coverings of some sort when at the store, and they're trying to maintain social distancing when shopping. There are no requirements for it, but many people wear gloves when shopping and dispose of them once they get back to their cars. At our local Stop & Shop, there are signs through the aisles to make them one-way and alleviate high traffic. The self-serve buffet bar is out of service since it was a high-contact area. There are plastic shields between cashiers and customers and a plastic covering on high-contact items like pin pads and touch screens, even at self-checkout. Our local Costco is a little bit more organized, with a socially distanced line to show your membership ID before entering and hand sanitizer stands available. Upon entrance, customers get a shopping cart that is disinfected right in front of them and everyone is wearing a mask. There are no samples available at my Costco just yet. I haven't been to any stores where there is a capacity limit that leads to long lines, but the Shop Rite in our town is the most popular grocery store and has had lines through the parking lot on busy days.

Everything seems to be back in stock and calmed down, for the most part. Lysol spray and rubbing alcohol are the only things I still have a hard time finding. There used to be lines for hours at every grocery store we'd try back in March, but now, there is sometimes not even a line—not even on the weekends. I think people are running out mid-week to shop. I have noticed a lot less shoppers wearing gloves—but cashiers always are, and they are all also behind Plexiglass shields now. Everyone inside the stores is always wearing a mask. There are also stickers everywhere asking people to social distance. Some people listen, others don't. I have gotten into arguments with people who don't stand far enough away from me in the store.

I live in a "hot spot," and I think where you live plays in to how you approach things. Having pretty much depleted my initial panic purchases of one case each of refried beans, black beans, and canned corn, I've started venturing back out for less apocalyptic shopping items. Being predominantly vegetarian/pescatarian brings some challenges—in an apocalypse I'll eat frozen vegetables and fruit, but I'd rather not, given the option. So I use a combination of Instacart for major shopping and "dash-and-go" for fresh or last minute needs. For the latter, I have a list of rules for whether I will go in to a market: Can I get in and out in less than 10 minutes. and can I do it with physical distancing? Are they wiping down the shopping carts out front? Are the staff using proper protocols (masks, gloves, etc.)? Are the customers wearing masks and trying to practice social distancing? Do they have the exact items I am looking for (I prefer to go to my regular markets because I know where everything is and don't have to hunt for items, which takes more time)?

My first scan is to see how crowded the parking lot is. I'm okay with turning around and walking out if I don't feel comfortable. At this point I feel like my local market is pretty much back to "normal" with respect to availability of products. Most people behave, but it only takes one to "contaminate" the scene. They have plexiglass, gloves, masks, and taped-off markers. I do my best to mind my own business. That said, I glared at the woman behind me who broke the 6-foot rule (I don't think she noticed but I felt better for the glare), and told the bagger I'd bag things myself because "wearing a mask under your nose is like not wearing a mask." Fortunately I bagged a bottle of vodka.

While it's so nice that the panic-buying and the lines around the block to get inside have stopped, I'm starting to feel like the people in the grocery with me have gotten a little too lax on preventative measures. Philadelphia is currently in the yellow phase (the Pennsylvania equivalent of phase 2), with tentative plans to move into the green phase (phase 3) on July 3rd. You can tell people are happy about this. There's definitely more small talk between shoppers and the cashiers again—like it was before the quarantine. There's still someone who works there standing by the door tallying the number of people who come in, and an employee directing traffic to the check-out counter so people don't stand too close together in line. However, you're also seeing more people are pulling their T-shirts over their faces as a mask and picking up and squeezing produce before putting it back. But hey, at least toilet paper is back on the shelves.

Everyone is wearing masks—now. It took a while for Oregon to get with the program! It felt scary grocery shopping even a month ago because it didn't feel like people were taking it seriously and stores were very crowded. I haven’t been able to find yeast for baking in months! Flour and sugar were also issues, but I finally got lucky when I went at 7:30 am on a Saturday and was able to snag two bags each of flour and sugar (the limit per shopper). Pasta options are very limited; macaroni is pretty much all you can find. And I haven't seen disinfectant wipes since February. Lines aren't too bad—if you want to go to Trader Joe's, you'll be waiting around the block. One store I go to isn't following strict social distancing—no limit to amount of shoppers in store and you can bring your own bags still. The employees are wearing masks, though, thankfully. The nicer grocery store near me, New Seasons, has you wait on 6-feet markers outside the store and in line, and they have sneeze guards up and disinfect after each shopper. No cash is accepted.

Whole Foods had a line out the front with markers on the ground indicating distancing. It went fast, though—there were probably 10 to 15 people when I got there, but I was in within five minutes. Once I got in it was empty, but the distancing restrictions were not as evident as outside. The butcher and fish areas were a bit haphazard. The fish counter was like normal times with no organized line and people just waiting to be served. The butcher had a line but no attempt at keeping six feet apart. The store instructed your direction with an arrow on the perimeter, but I don't recall each aisle being marked. They seem overstaffed; there was no wait for the cashier, and they actually flagged me down for check out. The cashier was fully encapsulated in plexiglass, too. Self-bagging was permitted at my location. Everyone was wearing masks, and Prime shoppers were a large percentage of the people there.

I've been pleasantly surprised by my local grocery store. Even in the (so far) worst of the lockdown, I never experienced it being too crowded. They do have a sign up that says capacity is limited to 50 people, but I've never seen a line to get in. I did experience items being out of stock, such as tortillas, ramen, flour, Lysol wipes, and disinfectant spray. There are 6-feet markers on the floor for the checkout lanes, plastic screens protecting workers, and everyone I've ever seen in there is wearing a mask. That said, I have not been able to get inside either Trader Joe's near me. The line has been wrapped around the block every time I've tried. I miss it so much but have made due with my local options for now. I keep thinking if I just could wake up early enough, I might be able to get in...but that hasn't happened yet.

I live in Brooklyn, but spent some time in Connecticut with family—and shopping there was a dream. I generally didn't need to stand in line to enter. (Whole Foods had someone counting people at the door, Stop & Shop did not.) The stores are ginormous, so I never felt that my personal space was threatened. Plus, everyone wore masks. There was always flour and chocolate chips (things I couldn't find for weeks in Brooklyn). There were markers for lines, the cashiers had plastic guards in front of them, and I was able to bring my own bags. My one critique: The aisles were supposed to be one way, but the arrows on the floor weren't super attention-grabbing, and perhaps because of this, everyone ignored that rule.