Poster Board Is Selling Out in D.C

From ELLE

Ahead of Saturday’s March for Our Lives in D.C., local convenience stores and office-supply chains are running low on sign-making essentials like poster board and color markers. So, get supplies while you can.

The anti-gun violence rally - planned by survivors of the February 14th massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida - is expected to bring as many as 500,000 protestors, many of them students, to D.C. to demand legislative action in Congress addressing gun violence. And, if the nationwide student walkout on March 14 is any indication, we can expect some incredibly powerful, politically on-point protest signs.

On the eve of the big event, marchers are flocking to local Office Depot stores, Targets, and Staples, among others, in search of crafting essentials. But, with such a high number of estimated attendees, many are walking out empty handed.

At the Staples closest to the National Mall, poster board isn’t quite sold out, but supplies are definitely dwindling and the store is having more brought in ASAP.

“We’re having some folks bringing poster board from our other stores,” assistant manager Russell McDowell tells ELLE.com. “We currently have a little bit, but when our district manager brings some in, we should have a reasonable supply for everyone.”

McDowell says the other Staples in downtown Washington (located at 1901 L St NW) will not be restocking their poster board supply, since the chain plans to shut down that location.

The Target near Georgetown is totally sold out of poster board, but another location just north of downtown (3100 14th St.) gets new deliveries every night and has plenty on hand.

“Students usually come in and shop later in the day, so we’re expecting to see a lot of people come in this afternoon and tonight,” Kobi Marshall, the department manager tells ELLE.com. “If there’s a march going on, we always get more people.”

Ahead of the historic D.C. women’s march in January 2017, protestors faced the same issue. Stores like CVS, Target, and FedEx ran out of sign-supplies, so people resorted to repurposing boxes as signage for the march or printing out images from home on paper.

Retail managers expect the same influx this evening. An Office Depot representative tells ELLE.com that their D.C. store, a 10-minute drive from the White House, has about 40 blank posters in stock, but believes that could all get sold tonight.

ELLE.com also spoke with several local CVS stores and Walgreens in downtown Washington that, at the time of publication, all have supplies available (albeit minimal amounts). The manager of the CVS at 2000 Pennsylvania Ave NW says he's had "many students" come to the store asking for supplies. And, unfortunately, they only have three blank posters left. Those, he expects will be gone within the next few hours.

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