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Panic shoppers clearing Vernon grocery shelves

Non-perishables, eggs, chicken, beef, pasta and rice added to the list of sold out items
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Shelves are bare at Walmart Sunday, March 15, as panic shoppers scoop up non-perishables and other products. (Caitlin Clow - Morning Star)

First it was toilet paper, now store shelves are being wiped of an array of food.

A trip down the Walmart aisles Sunday afternoon was less than fruitful for shoppers.

Flour, most canned goods, pastas, rice, sauces, eggs, chicken and beef were nowhere to be found on March 15.

“We had to buy organic macaroni and cheese because there was no KD left,” one shopper said.

“I scored myself some perogies,” said shopper Caitlin Clow. “Everything was pretty picked over.”

There was limited milk, pork, fish, tuna, canned vegetables and frozen vegetables.

“There was virtually nothing,” said mother of two Chelsey Langlois, who was just trying to pick up a few things on her weekly grocery shop.

Some call it panic shopping, but Langlois said it’s just stupid.

“Do you understand what that’s like for people who live paycheque to paycheque? There’s parents who literally have to wait until their next paycheque to get groceries and the stupid people are taking it all.”

Even laundry soap is getting low.

With a sick son at home, Langlois couldn’t even find Tylenol as she said all pharmaceutical products were gone.

The situation was similar at Save-On-Foods.

“They still had turkey and the stuff that’s not as popular,” Langlois said.

Walmart president and CEO Haio Barbeito said there is a lot of pressure on the system, including a very high demand for pickup and delivery services.

“We are doing our very best to stock our stores and Walmart.ca as quickly as possible with the products customers are asking for right now, for example, hand sanitizer, paper products, cleaning supplies and non-perishables etc.”

READ MORE: Okanagan shelves wiped bare of toilet paper

READ MORE: Girl Guide cookie sales hurt by coronavirus


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Jennifer Smith

About the Author: Jennifer Smith

Vernon has always been my home, and I've been working at The Morning Star since 2004.
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