Lauren Drewes Daniels
Audio By Carbonatix
Nary a salad was to be had at a Tom Thumb store in North Texas last night. The only fresh produce was four lonely packs of cauliflower. The butcher counter was empty.
The Dallas area is about to get hit with another cold front, which means many will be back at stores soon to stock up.
We reached out to Albertsons, H-E-B, Walmart, and Kroger to get an update on how things are moving through their systems after the ice storm. Stores are quickly replenishing shelves, and fortunately, most have local distribution centers.
Restocking Status
H-E-B said, “We are completely focused on delivering our customers’ favorite products, safely and quickly, to all of our stores impacted by the weather.”
Kroger expects that, as road conditions improve and our store teams return to 100% attendance, stores will be fully stocked. But they didn’t give a timeline.
A spokesperson for Albertsons (which also owns Tom Thumb) said that by Thursday afternoon, every store will have received truck deliveries from the distribution center. Other vendors are also making deliveries.
This morning, we spoke with Gary Huddleston, a grocery industry consultant with the Texas Retailers Association. He says that the good news for North Texans is that major grocery stores have distribution centers in the area, so they can get products to stores quickly. Also, technology is so advanced that it will help stores restock low items.
“Produce is more challenging because obviously it’s perishable,” Huddleston says. “A lot of that product may have expired when customers obviously couldn’t get to the stores. So stores are having to deal with looking through and combing the rack to make sure that the product is in date and then have to replace it.”
The stores will quickly return to normal for grocery and frozen items, and bread has already bounced back, he said.
Meat will also be a challenge, he says, because of perishability. Huddleston says it might take a little longer to bounce back, “But again, because distribution is really good for the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Today we’ll start seeing much better stock levels in both meat and produce.”
Keeping the Power On
We also talked to Huddleston about how grocery stores manage during big events like this. Are ice storms a boon or a bust for grocery stores?
He says that the rush of business before the storm helps sustain them during slow days, but that getting back to business is important.
“For some stores, it could be a loss,” he says. “I’d like to give the power companies a huge compliment here for keeping the lights on in our stores because in the past ice storms, that’s what really hurt us. And if you think about it, if you lose electricity, then you lose all that perishable product, and it’s much harder to bounce back.”
Asked whether some products might cost more as things return to normal, Huddleston said, “No, absolutely not.”
Pickup and Delivery
The bigger challenge might be scheduling pickup and delivery. A friend who uses H-E-B pickup religiously said she placed an online order Wednesday night, and pickups are available Thursday at the Mansfield store.
But some items were out of stock, so it might be a few more days before your full regular weekly run is ready.
Huddleston also said delivery and pickup could take a bit longer for stores to catch up, as restocking will be a priority.
Luckily, we have a week to get things sorted out before the Super Bowl. The queso, ribs and beer should be fully stocked by next weekend.
