Wal-Mart, Target, etc in the age of Coronavirus

So today I had to go get groceries and as I was driving I had a phone call I had to take- so I pulled over...into a Wal-mart parking lot. (I am in CA but not in SoCo during all this).

As I sat there for nearly an hour on the phone, I was alarmed...and enraged by what I saw.

The parking lot was absolutely packed. Families of 4, 5...7 going into the store. Groups of 3-5 seemingly unrelated going into the store. No controls on number of people going in. People coming out with carts full of Easter shit. TV's. Clothing. Furniture. The people coming out with groceries or their prescription bags where a small, small minority.

And from the numbers of cars and people I saw I can only imagine how impossible any form of "Social distancing" was inside the store. But nobody seemed to care. I saw very few masks, even fewer gloves.

I can't put all the blame on Wal-Mart... clearly there is a substantial subset of the population that is *not* taking this seriously.

I've heard Target is a s%*t-show as well, though I've also heard they are doing much more to sanitize carts, checkouts, surfaces, etc.

I've heard Andy's and Whole Foods are a s$*t-show. That locally Community Market is seriously stepping up. Locally and nationally Trader Joes is stepping up.

Haven't heard anything about Olivers, Pacific Market, or Fircrest.... ?

I know when SoCO extended the "shelter in place" there was certainly language suggesting they knew a lot of businesses were not stepping up and need to....

I'd love to hear some feedback from people. What businesses are rising to the occasion? Which are putting profits before public safety? And, the more complicated question- which seem to be trying but are overwhelmed by people who just aren't getting it?

You heard wrong about Andy’s- they have serious measures in place- I was there yesterday. My only observation was that the newly-installed clear plexiglass panels to protect the cashiers could be larger. They are the only food store that I have been in that is taking this seriously.

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Posted in reply to the post by SonomaPatientsCoop:

...I've heard Andy's and Whole Foods are a s$*t-show. That locally Community Market is seriously stepping up. Locally and nationally Trader Joes is stepping up....

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I think Sebastopol's Community Market was the first grocery I saw to take action; if memory serves, the morning after the Stay at Home order. Pacific Market and others are doing early morning opening for seniors. Oliver's is also monitoring, wait at the door, 10 in the store at a time, etc. Sebastopol Hardware is also door monitoring numbers of people in the store, but also doing lots of online & phone curbside orders. There's NO SUPER SATURDAY or SENIOR WED. for the duration, and Sebastopol Hardware has new hours starting today, 9-6 every day.

Yes there are many people whom are not taking this crisis seriously. That has been very obvious. I'm more concerned about the people that have to work at those stores like Target etc. They are like warriors fighting on the front lines. They are dealing with unruly people that are hell bent on getting what they want now!

My son is one of those workers, and has seen what it's like dealing with the public for his first job at Target. He is absolutely a target, and all of these stores should be doing more to make sure their employees are safer from those that don't get it. This is a war on everybody's health. It's like our planet is saying that she is very sick from people that don't care about her well being. So now we are suffering and freaking out about getting sick.

Pretty much every grocery and other type of store I've been in for past few weeks (in Seb and Petaluma) has the plexiglass panels in place to protect both cashiers and public. Ingenious idea.

I get a lot of my food from the Grocery Outlet in Rohnert Park. They open at 7 a.m. and have the same food the other stores have, much less expensive. There are other Grocery Outlets for those who do not live close to RP. Please do not email or call me, as I am sick and in bed.

That has been mandated by the State Health Dept now, and is in place at all grocery stores.

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Posted in reply to the post by cocreator:

Pretty much every grocery and other type of store I've been in for past few weeks (in Seb and Petaluma) has the plexiglass panels in place to protect both cashiers and public. Ingenious idea.

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To whoever posted this(sonomapatientwhatever), sitting on your phone for an hr in the parking lot isn't abiding by the shelter in place order so you just blatantly stated you're breaking the rules while complaining about other people breaking the rules, LOL. Furthermore stop using this as a platform to start arguments and impose your view of things to others its ridiculous and we don't need more hate vibrations being put out into the world. Hope you find the light. Namaste

I shopped Sebastopol Safeway yesterday. I was very unimpressed by their mitigation measures. It was suggested days ago that everyone wear masks in public. As we all know the plain masks protect the other guy more from you so you would think their checkers would be using them. Most customers were. They are talking to you while they are dealing with your food. That is a perfect vector for droplets on your food.

So I say Safeway isn't.

In LA now everyone is required and you can be denied service if you don't have a mask. There are stats that say if everyone wears a mask of some sort it cuts transmission by 60%. So it only makes sense that we should do so until this mess is over. Where in the hell is the leadership on these kind of issues? This entire Covid-19 response by the Trump Administration is such a failure.

Does anyone know a store where the checkers are masked up?

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Posted in reply to the post by handsomeswami:

To whoever posted this(sonomapatientwhatever), sitting on your phone for an hr in the parking lot isn't abiding by the shelter in place ...

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Umm- actually- as I said I was out to get groceries. The phone call was part of an effort I'm involved with (with many others) getting everything from nitrile gloves. 99% isopropyl and 90+% alcohol from the cannabis industry into the hands of hospitals and first responders. If you have a problem with me sitting in a parking lot for an hour dealing with those logistics then you have a serious problem... (never mind that the "shelter in place" does not forbid us from getting groceries- nor does it forbid us from sitting in our car in a parking lot maintaining much greater then the 6 ft social distancing... )

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Posted in reply to the post by John Eder:

You heard wrong about Andy’s- they have serious measures in place- I was there yesterday. My only observation was that the newly-installed clear plexiglass panels to protect the cashiers could be larger. They are the only food store that I have been in that is taking this seriously.

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Fair enough. Maybe they've stepped things up. I do love Andy's. My info was from several days before the post- an "at risk" friend who said they were doing nothing to control the number of people in the store and that it felt VERY unsafe.

I just sent a letter to Oliver's Customer Service regarding their Montecito store in Santa Rosa.

The cashiers did not have masks and the stores were not monitored at all - I stopped at Whole Foods on Yulupa, right after and they had a long line with a masked door person (one door open) allowing only a few
customers in at a time.

I was surprised that Olivers' is not protecting their cashiers, who as you know, are on the front lines and heavily exposed to hundreds of people.

There were very few people wearing masks in that crowded store. And realizing that the masks we wear only protect others from us, makes it more worrisome.

The truth is we have done so little testing in this state. And so we have NO idea how many people are impacted. In the Press Democrat yesterday, the senior infectious disease advisor said that they are projecting the Virus PEAKS in June. That's two months away! We are all in a kind of sleep walk I think. This is not New York - but it could be.

We are at the beginning of this thing.

I should add- the day after I posted this Wal-Mart did announce steps to limit the number of people in their stores at one time.

Too little to late imho... especially since their stores are massive and and only a portion of them can be considered "essential". But.... to play devils advocate... they do in fact serve a population that often does not have back accounts or credit cards- and are cut off from ordering basics...and non0basics... online.

I'll also add- when I went to grocery shop- a Whole Foods somewhere here in CA.... there were no controls whatsoever on the number of people in the store. It was beyond crowded and social distancing was not an option. I walked out.

Shout out to Community Market Sebastopol,

You must wear a mask and put on gloves to enter. Limited number of shoppers at a time. They are taking precautions to protect their employees, public and your food.

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Posted in reply to the post by Goat Rock Ukulele:

Shout out to Community Market Sebastopol, You must wear a mask and put on gloves to enter. Limited number of shoppers at a time. They are taking precautions to protect their employees, public and your food.

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Same with Community Market, Santa Rosa. A great store.