Grocery stores restocking after this week's panic buying

Hooray!

There's produce, meat, dairy and frozen foods again at Kelowna grocery stores.

"We've officially switched our supply chain from Vancouver to Calgary and Edmonton," said Greg Frederick, the owner and operator of FreshCo Kelowna.

"We received a full shipment of produce last night, so that section is fully stocked again."

FreshCo is expecting another shipment tonight of dairy, eggs and dry goods, so expects to be somewhat back to normal tomorrow.

"By next week, we'll be fully back to normal," said Frederick.

"We want everyone to know we'll continue to get regular supplies so there will be no disruption."

FreschCo's meat has always come from Alberta, so there were no shortages in that department.

"Customers are more respectful now, buying only what they need," said Frederick.

Sunday and Monday's storm of the century in southern BC caused flooding and landslides that cut off all highway routes between Vancouver and the Interior.

On Monday, as soon as people realized no grocery trucks would be making it to Kelowna from Vancouver, a buying panic started.

By Tuesday night, most grocery stores had been picked over, emptying produce, meat and dairy sections, and seriously depleting frozen food and dry goods shelves.

Even toilet paper, the original panic purchase of the pandemic, flew off the shelves.

Despite retail and government officials asking shoppers not to overbuy and hoard, they did so anyway causing a three-day crisis.

With supply trucks starting to arrive from Calgary and Edmonton, the situation is starting to normalize.

The three Save-On Foods stores in Kelowna received shipments early this morning and they have "decent" amounts of produce, milk and meat.

"We know this is hard for everyone," said the man who answered the phone at Save-On at Orchard Plaza.

"But we're asking people to limit their shopping if they can and pick up only one jug of milk, one dozen eggs, two dairy items, two produce items and two meat items per order."

There's lots of potatoes and no limit on them.

Real Canadian Superstore also received fresh supplies of produce and meat, but has no eggs and the milk is almost all gone again.

"But we have lots of wine and cigarettes," said the woman who answered the phone with a laugh.

Lakeview Market received 15 skids of supplies overnight from Associated Grocers in Edmonton.

That allowed the store to fully restock the dry goods sections and partially replenish the produce, dairy, meat and eggs.

However, Lakeview Market is still out of milk.

The Safeway in downtown Kelowna also received a shipment last night.

"We're not fully restocked, but we're getting there," said the man who answered the phone at the store.

"And we'll be getting more shipments over the next few days, so we'll be back to normal by the end of next week."

However, he did not want to specify what Safeway had lots of and what was expected to run low because he didn't want to create another buying panic.