Food supplies begin to return to markets

With delivery trucks moving again, snow-weary residents across the region flocked to grocery stores yesterday, seeking to restock refrigerators and kitchen cupboards.

At some stores, shelves were bare, especially in the city, but for the most part, shoppers were pleasantly surprised to find not only such staples as bread, milk, and eggs, but also an ample supply of meat, fish, and produce.

Many stores were able to stay ahead because they ordered extra deliveries before the storm. "By noon Thursday, we were back in stock 100 percent," said Craig Hoffman, vice president of operations for the Pennsylvania division of Wegmans, which has five stores in the Philadelphia area. "The biggest issue we worried about is that we wouldn't get flowers for Valentine's Day. But we did some finagling, and even they arrived in time."

To help trucks bring in food, Pennsylvania relaxed rest requirements for commercial truck drivers, permitting them to drive 14 hours straight, for instance, instead of the usual 11. "This will give truck drivers a little bit of breathing room," said Erin Waters, a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

Deliveries that the Fresh Grocer in East Germantown was to have received Wednesday arrived yesterday, store manager John Faust said. "We're still behind on Thursday's and Friday's. The way it's looking now, we probably won't be back to normal until Saturday or Sunday."

Throughout the store, shoppers found blank patches on shelves. Teresa Tyler and her three children went through for the second time this week, in search of essentials. "Today is better," she said.

The Trader Joe's store in Center City looked as though 10,000 hungry teenage boys had swept through after a month with Outward Bound.

Ground beef, turkey burger, chicken breasts, salmon, lettuce, broccoli, celery, grapes, mushrooms, clementines, bread, cookies, milk, yogurt, juice - gone, gone, gone.

Such shortages were rare elsewhere and deliveries were no problem.

"We were never out of stock on anything," said Lou Lusher, store manager at the Giant supermarket in Conshohocken. "We had no service product issues at all."

At the height of the storm Wednesday, supply trucks coming from the regional Giant warehouse in Harrisburg stayed put. But the Conshohocken store had enough stock to meet customer demand Thursday. A delivery yesterday replenished shelves at a Giant store south of West Chester.

Maintaining the supply chain under such conditions required strategic thinking and an "all-hands effort," said Tracy Pawelski, a spokesperson for the chain, which operates 45 supermarkets in the region. For example: The supply of chicken from the Delmarva Peninsula was interrupted because some chicken houses were crushed by heavy snow.

"We had to make a lot of decisions either to redirect what we had or to find a supply from other sources," Pawelski said.

In New Jersey, delayed bread and milk shipments arrived at the Pathmark store in Lawnside, Camden County, Thursday, but the supermarket was still awaiting its stock of Perdue chicken.

Signs in the poultry section explained that supply was "extremely short" due to the storm. "People understand," assistant manager Tammy Furber said. "That's kind of out of our control."

On the White Horse Pike, the Produce Junction in Magnolia was full of fresh bulk vegetables and Valentine's Day flowers. Just one supplier of washed and chopped salad mixes was on back order. The market's stock fell some Wednesday and Thursday, but so did demand, manager Thomas Sherm said.

At the Acme market on Route 202 in King of Prussia, red-skin potatoes in bags, asparagus, and bananas were scarce, but most other goods were plentiful. Paper towels were running low, but then again, they were on sale.

"By and large, shelf condition was good," Acme Markets spokesperson Taryne Williams said. The chain has 90 stores in the region.

Throughout the region, cabin fever seemed to incite strange cravings. Lusher at the Giant in Conshohocken called it a "snack storm." The big sellers: chips and popcorn.

At the adjacent Genuardi's supermarket, lottery tickets were in high demand. "They panic to think they can't play that number and that the number will come out," store manager Nick Favorito said. "They were not worried about food; they just had to get their lottery tickets."

Same story at the Fresh Market in Glen Mills, Delaware County, where manager Brian Fichtner saw a spike in sales of crackers, nuts, and candy. Lots of candy.

Folks looking ahead to Valentine's Day?

"It wasn't the Valentine's stuff that sold," he said.

Patrick Burns, owner of the Fresh Grocer, which has stores in Delaware County and Philadelphia, saw another surprise hot item - charcoal. "I guess they were having a nice barbecue," he said. "Selling out of it was pretty amazing."

Meanwhile, the grocery rush elicited scoffs from stoics and realists. At a Genuardi's store in Glen Mills, Paul Hanson of Aston said he couldn't fathom the compulsion to load up on food before and after snowstorms.

"The supermarkets aren't going to run out of food," he declared, "and people aren't going to starve."