More Adventures in Shutdown Shopping

This past week I made my first foray to Costco since the earliest days of the pandemic shutdown here in Washington.  Even in normal times I try to minimize my trips to Costco since I do not like crowds.  But these days I am pretty much resigned to waiting in line to get into food stores so I figured I'd just bite the bullet and hope for the best.  I passed on the early open hours for seniors and showed up maybe a half hour after the regular all-comers opening at 10.

The line stretched about halfway down the side of the building.  It definitely looked shorter than the line I encountered on my last visit.   About two-thirds of the people in line, myself included, wore masks.  We were all naturally spaced out (social distance-wise, that is) by our shopping carts as we steadily made our way to the entrance.  At that point I discovered that the line followed a snaking path around barriers created with empty pallets where we proceeded in a stop and go manner as employees allowed customers to enter in small groups.  In all it probably too 15 to 20 minutes to gain entrance.

Inside the store, the experience was quite different from the usual.  Instead of  crowded aisles, the store felt relatively empty with plenty of space to keep my distance from others.  I did not have to weave my way around gaggles of shoppers.  I wasn't looking for any high-demand items and found the few things I wanted quickly.  Checkout was fast.  My total time in-store was probably about the same or less than my time in line.  Not as simple as shopping at Costco used to be but in the scheme of things, reasonably tolerable.

Two days later I went to Trader Joe's during the 8-9 am senior hour.  The line was shorter than earlier visits but it still took about 5 minutes to get into the store.  Like Costco, TJ limits the number of people allowed in at one time so the aisles were not crowded.  TJ is a much smaller store so space was a bit tighter than at Costco so I was closer to fellow shoppers there.  But I was in and out fairly fast and wore a mask so my exposure was relatively limited.

Watching the evolution of retail social distancing and infection control strategies has been interesting.  All of the places I regularly shop for groceries initiated control procedures immediately following the governor's order in early March and have fine-tuned them in the weeks since.  Yeah, it's inconvenient but infectious disease experts advise that we really do need to keep away from each other.  I don't think they are making that recommendation as a joke or part of some obscure conspiracy (although watching protesters gathering at state capitols to protest shutdown requirements suggests that plenty of conspiracy theories are out there) so I appreciate that the grocery stores I frequent are doing a good job of keeping food available and us apart while we procure those needed supplies.