No frozen pizza?! How Memphis grocery stores are weathering this winter storm
No frozen pizza at Kroger in Collierville. A picked-over produce section at the Kroger at Getwell and Goodman in Southaven. No fresh chicken or ground beef at Walmart in Collierville.
As Memphis-area residents ventured out to grocery stores after this week's winter blast, many discovered empty shelves and a paltry selection of some items in stock.
The situation wasn't quite as severe at locally owned grocery stores as compared to some of the larger chains.
Addie James Fite is the marketing manager for Castle Retail Group, the parent company of locally owned markets Memphis Cash Saver, High Point Grocery and South Point Grocery.
Despite the weather challenges, Fite said that their stores had been able to stay fairly well stocked thanks to advance planning.
"Before the storms happened, our supplier AWG knew what was coming and went ahead and canceled delivery days, but offered stores an extra delivery to stock up," she said. This allowed their stores to have back stock to restock shelves as items sold out.
Kroger did not respond to a request for comment on this story.
Here's a look at some of the challenges grocery stores are facing and the most in-demand items.
A run on milk, bread, eggs and ice cream
"Milk, bread and eggs are always the top three things to go when winter weather hits," said Cordelia's Market General Manager Brian Prather, adding alcohol sales also usually go up as customers anticipate being stuck at home.
Fite agreed, adding that water sells out too as Memphians now fear that water will be compromised as pipes or water mains break after recently problems during severe weather.
In addition, Fite said Cash Saver stores have seen a run on items such as soup, lunch meat, frozen pizzas, chips and — this one came as a surprise — ice cream.
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Challenges with local deliveries
Given the road conditions, as of Thursday morning, Fite said Castle Retail Group's stores were for the most part only short on items that are locally delivered.
"Frito-Lay, Coca-Cola, Pepsi and some brands of bread are delivered locally," she said.
Prather said Cordelia's Market was able to get some brands of bread delivered thanks to the willingness of local delivery drivers.
"We have sold out of eggs twice, though," he said, adding that if he doesn't get a delivery on Friday that milk may become an issue.
Memphis grocery stores still getting deliveries
Castle Retail Group stores received deliveries on Wednesday, with almost all items ordered being delivered.
"We ordered 7,755 items and got 7,455 on Wednesday," Fite said. "That's an order fulfillment rate of 96%, which is almost on par with our normal 98% fulfillment rate."
She did point out that in the coming days, customers may find that certain brands or sizes may be out of stock due to the fact that freight from manufacturers will be coming from across the country.
"Take Hunt's tomato sauce for example. We may not have that specific brand or the size can that you are looking for, but we will have a tomato sauce available," Fite said.
Most Memphis grocery stores open, but might have limited hours
Most Memphis-area grocery stores are open this week, but hours of operation may be impacted by weather conditions.
Social media is the best way to see if your local store is open.
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Prather said Cordelia's Market would close at 4 p.m. Thursday due to the deteriorating road conditions. That early closure (along with a delayed opening on Friday) was announced on the store's social media pages mid-morning.
"Our No. 1 priority is to get employees home safely," said Fite, adding decisions to open or close are made on hour-to-hour basis as they watch the weather.
"Our Facebook pages are the best place to look to see if a store is open," she said. "That's where we first announce store closures."
Jennifer Chandler is the Food & Dining reporter at The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at jennifer.chandler@commercialappeal.com and you can follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @cookwjennifer.
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This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis grocery stores see shortages on shelves due to winter weather
