Traffic at Walmart, Costco and Target falls for the first time in weeks

[Roland99]

Traffic at Walmart, Costco and Target falls for the first time in weeks as coronavirus stockpiling behavior shifts
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/traffic-at-walmart-costco-and-target-falls-for-the-first-time-in-weeks-as-coronavirus-stockpiling-behavior-shifts-2020-03-31

Traffic at Walmart Inc., Costco Wholesale Corp. and Target Corp. dropped for the first time in the weeks since the coronavirus pandemic ramped up in the U.S., according to Placer.ai.

Walmart WMT, 0.545% traffic was down 6.7% year-over-year for the third week of March. The previous week, traffic was up 18.4%.

At Costco COST, 0.137% , traffic fell 8.7% year-over-year for the third week of March. The second week of March, traffic jumped 34.7%.

And at Target TGT, 2.323% , traffic slumped 20.5% in the third week of March after climbing 19.2% year-over-year the previous week.

I was at Target recently, about noon, parking lot looked like it looks like on a usual day...at opening. Not noon. Got some fruit and left.

[Sherman A1]

1. It was bound to happen at some point

a combination of people reaching their limits on where they can store stuff and empty shelves at the stores.

[Bleacher Creature]

2. This seems like a good thing.

Hopefully it means people now realize that they don't need a bunker full of food, meaning that the stores won't be as crowded and also a more consistent inventory.

[CountAllVotes]

3. I hope it continues to fall

Haven't been out in 3 weeks and spent a large piece of yesterday making soup.

It was forgotten to be to put it away and had to be tossed down the garbage disposal this a.m.

It had the last vegetables left in it, two old carrots, two old stalks of celery and one onion.

Safeway wants $7.99/dozen for eggs plus a delivery fee and tips. Huh?

Forget it, cannot afford it.

Just doing what I can to be a I guess.

Hope the lines get shorter real soon as online shopping where I am located is a FARCE!

[Submariner]

7. If you can get to a Costco

two-dozen organic large eggs $6.49 this morning. Plenty of fresh vegetables in the cold room. And Costco won't over pack the store so plenty of safe social distancing.

[gelsdorf]

4. This actually a normal thing

Traffic always falls off at the end of the month, as we called them "The Terrible Two's" any day in the month that starts with a 2. I noticed lower traffic last week myself. However, with the first you have checks arriving in addition to re-loaded SNAP benefits. As such, stores will be slammed this weekend. Round 2 of disability checks hits on the 8th, and then who knows when the Donnie Dollars will come around. When that happens, all bets are off. Those 'checks' are going right to the grocery stores.

[RandySF]

5. Business as usual at our Trader Joe's

Only we have to wait in at the door for social distancing.

[spinbaby]

6. I haven't been there to see

But I have a friend who works at Target who says that they have a few people who come in every day.

[Marrah_Goodman]

8. Walmarts are crazy busy today. It's the first of the month

People who rely on food stamps had no way to stock up so they are all going in today to food shop.

[SeattleVet]

9. We had to do a Costco run yesterday. (Store #1, Seattle)

It was *very* smooth, and less crowded than I think I've ever seen it. Plenty of parking, they had barriers set up to corral people (a safe distance apart) and let people in at a pace to keep the store much less crowded. We got there at around 4:00 and walked right in - no line to get in. Store was easy to navigate without people clogging the aisles with carts randomly stopped in the middle, or at the endcaps for the samples (no samples right now). They have modified some procedures to help keep everyone safe.

We got in, got almost everything we needed (they were out of 2 canned items we usually buy), and checked out (there was ONE person ahead of us in the line!). Even got a rotisserie chicken for dinner last night (and 2 other meals - we cut up, vacuum-packed, and froze what we didn't eat last night). I have a boneless leg of lamb in the smoker right now for tonight (our 25th anniversary - I wanted to make something a little special, since we can't go out to any great place for dinner right now).

They had a sign up near the entry showing what high-demand items they were out of stock on, so if someone was just looking for those things they didn't even have to go inside.