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Original poster

How are the supermarkets still so busy?

45 replies

UnicornMadeOfPinkGlitter · 13/04/2020 17:38

I’m a keyworker and have two days off. Today is my birthday, however for obvious reasons all plans have been postponed.
I am the only driver in our family and so we need to get food. I went to the nearest supermarket at 10.45 and the queue was huge, all the way around the supermarket, around the back and on to the car park.
So drove to one a little bit further away. The same story. Stopped at a petrol station for fuel, bread and milk and went home again.

Went out about an hour ago and they are still queuing! We have food in the freezer so will try first thing tomorrow, but judging by the posts on social media this is happening all day every day. I obviously live in a highly populated area, but to be queues all day every day?

I’m not NHS or a care worker or vulnerable so no right to jump the queue and neither would I do so anyway unless I was physically unable to queue for that length of time.

OP posts:
PumpkinP · 13/04/2020 17:40

Because no one can get online slots, because of the 3 item limit meaning people have to go more often

ScarfLadysBag · 13/04/2020 17:40

Well surely it's not that they're more busy than they were before, it's that only a limited number of people are allowed inside at once, and also that the queue will be socially distanced so will look a lot longer? Pre lockdown, everyone would just have been inside the shop instead.

There was a report the other day that said even with increased online deliveries, some 80% of people will still need to visit a store to do their shopping. And it's a holiday today in a lot of places, so people will be doing the shopping given a lot of stores were closed yesterday.

TheHobbitMum · 13/04/2020 17:40

A lot of it is due to how few customers can be in the store at any time at the moment. My store can have 175 customers (fire regs total) but due to the 2mtr distance it's been reduced to 40. So there is queues operating on a 1 in 1 out basis.

Wakemeuuuup · 13/04/2020 17:41

Our food consumption has gone up massively. Everyone is home for 3 meals a day plus snacks. I presume everyone is in the same position so a lot more food needs to be bought.

Also the queues are massive as supermarkets aren't letting a lot of people in at once. It's strictly one out one in and the queues move quickly

popcorndiva · 13/04/2020 17:41

Its because they are restricting the number in the store now. One in one out policy in many stores. Plus having to keep 2m from the next person makes the queue long very quickly.

All the shops were shut yesterday as well so today would have been extra busy

Original poster
UnicornMadeOfPinkGlitter · 13/04/2020 17:46

I waited in a queue on my own day off about ten days ago and the queue was long and took me about 40 minutes to get into the store and then couldn’t get everything.
The queues appeared to be a lot longer today and so I just didn’t want to do it. I know we are fortunate to have a freezer full of meat and veg so don’t have to go and can afford to go as I still have a job (dh has been furloughed)

Maybe I’m just being a bit grumpy as it’s my birthday and it’s been a non event and last thing I want to do is queue up to buy potatoes and carrots. I’ll just encourage them dc who are teens to eat more chocolate from the Easter eggs to save the food that we do have. Grin

OP posts:
DressingGownofDoom · 13/04/2020 17:50

Well the shops are still busy because people have to go there to buy groceries, same as you Confused

PleasantVille · 13/04/2020 17:53

Same number of shoppers but number allowed in the shop at a time much reduced so queues build up, it's what you'd expect to happen.

It might not be the same everywhere but in my local supermarkets the restrictions on what you can buy have pretty much gone and the hours are being extended which should help.

TheGreatWave · 13/04/2020 17:56

Probably many reasons why today - shops closed yesterday (unless you are in Scotland) bank holiday, poor weather (here at least) Also later on is generally the better time to go, most of it is just luck of the draw.

I went to my little Tesco on Saturday, I was straight in, by the time I came out there was a queue and about 5 mins later it was about 8 people long.

BrieAndChilli · 13/04/2020 17:57

It’s a combination of various things

  • only a certain number of people allowed in the shops at a time
  • lots of the supermarkets have reduced thier opening hours (to enable shelves to be stacked without public there)
  • people going out more regularly as limited to how much milk or whatever you can buy in one go
  • some people are probably going every day to ‘get out the house’ (we are going once a week but others won’t be)
  • people having to shop for other vulnerable or shielded people who would normally shop for themselves
ACoverIsNotABook · 13/04/2020 17:58

Try shopping at smaller shops, garages, farm shops. All a lot quicker than a supermarket.

fivesecondrule · 13/04/2020 18:00

I've been avoiding the supermarkets but I had to go and collect a few bits for my grandparents earlier- I went to our local Aldi and they were queuing round the car park- no parking spaces at all so I went to M&S on the next retail park and there was no-one in and had loads of reduced stuff so my freezer is now full too (also managed to get stocked up on Percy Pigs and half price Easter eggs).

YukoandHiro · 13/04/2020 18:04

Large families have to go more often because of the limits on essentials

lynsey91 · 13/04/2020 18:04

On my local facebook page someone said they had to queue for 3 hours on Saturday at Asda. That's ridiculous. No way would I queue for that length of time.

I assume that is partly because the shops were closed yesterday but never understand the panic that people here seem to have because of a one day closing.

Lots of people must be getting online slots because all the slots are taken for all the days showing at the moment. I have tried Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's, Morrisons, Waitrose and Iceland and can't get a delivery or click and collect.

If that many people have online slots booked why are the shops so busy?

Thankfully we have loads of food so DH had been shopping once in 3 weeks and will probably not go again for at least a week

HadALockdownMeltdown · 13/04/2020 18:19

Went to my local massive Tesco at about 4.30 today.
It was empty
No queues
Plenty of food

StrawberryF1eld · 13/04/2020 18:35

You’re just going to have to queue. It’s really not a big deal. Ours is the same length but goes down quickly and is lovely when once inside.

Aria20 · 13/04/2020 18:35

The queues are crazy here too, worse than queues for rides at Disney lol! I drove past Asda, Tesco and Aldi all with stupidly long queues, ended up at Lidl where I decided I'd have to stick the queue out and it moved fairly quickly only 20 mins but drove back past the other supermarkets and queues were even longer!

Can't see why anyone would queue that long as a day trip out of the house every day unless they desperately need something! I think that a lot of people with deliveries end up having to go out anyway as lots of stuff doesn't turn up!

Babyroobs · 13/04/2020 18:38

We are doing a lot of shopping as shopping for my elderly dad too and four teenagers at home. My son went out today to a large superstore and said that it was quiet , no queues.

MonaLisaDoesntSmile · 13/04/2020 18:43

People eating at home instead of having lunch at work or school and no supermarket slots and fewer people doing take aways and no one eating in restaurants... All adds up.

slipperywhensparticus · 13/04/2020 18:43

I cant understand why they are so busy there are more in the supermarket than normal it's taking longer as I've got to go up and down every aisle if I need to or not and the amount of people who feel the need to invade my fucking space to tell me I should leave my sen 7 year old home alone is ridiculous

rookiemere · 13/04/2020 18:46

It depends a lot on which supermarket you go to as well. I had to queue for about half an hour to get into Tescos but when I went to Sainsbury's I only had to wait a couple of minutes.

toryandproud · 13/04/2020 18:46

Went to tesco @5pm today, straight in, lots of food. Rather annoyingly a lot of the staff seemed to be ignoring social distancing including chatting to customers and even brushing past me but apart from that all good.

Rainbowshine · 13/04/2020 18:49

If you’re a key worker you can go during the hours that most large shops have for this group.

SabineSchmetterling · 13/04/2020 18:51

It’s a combination of factors. Shorter opening hours, limits on the number of people allowed in store at a time and the fact that the number of meals that supermarkets are having to provide is so much higher all mean longer queues. I think I heard on the news that before the lockdown 1/2 of all meals in the U.K. were eaten away from home.

The80sweregreat · 13/04/2020 18:52

Hard to get online deliveries haven't helped. I tried my old Waitrose account today for a laugh and they are fully booked up to the 17 th July! I'm sure the other online supermarkets are similar.
Four of us at home all day means more food being eaten so I need to go out a few times a week to stock up. Luckily I live close to smaller shops so I can get the essentials but a big shop can take hours! If you go later in the day it's a bit easier to her in , but then there not much left to buy!

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