Shopping services shift, and older shoppers line up

TILTON — Market Basket Manager Joe Whalen said close to 100 people were waiting outside the Tilton store at 5:30 a.m. on Thursday.

"Then it grew rapidly, but everybody was great." Whalen said. Customers were helping each other, including passing items from their own cart. "You need it more than I do," said one customer to another, and a Market Basket worker gave out some toilet paper rolls brought from home, Whalen said.

"Everybody understands the gravity of the situation," he said. "They're picking up extra shifts."

Full-truck deliveries are arriving once a day, and limits of items per customer change, depending on the stock onboard. The opening of Market Basket in Plymouth is on hold because of the coronavirus, he said.

Grocery store chains are adding early-bird hours for shoppers over 60 and those with chronic conditions and lowered immunity, while Hannaford Supermarkets suspended Hannaford-to-Go, an online shopping and curbside pick-up service. They plan to restore the service on April 4. Meanwhile, Shaw's supermarket is continuing home delivery of items ordered online through its InstaCart system.

With coronavirus numbers climbing in New Hampshire as more residents with symptoms test positive for the highly-contagious, flu-like illness, stores are shifting ways of doing business as worries persist over contagion, isolating in place, and the duration of the outbreak that has affected at least 44 people as of Thursday.

Ericka Dodge, communications manager for Maine-based Hannaford supermarkets, said the 182-store chain temporarily discontinued its Hannaford-to-Go service on March 18 to allow staff to restock shelves to keep up with brisker demand while the chain hires and trains new workers.

Shoppers, too, are making adjustments on the fly.

“Maybe it’s not as serious as everybody’s making it. I think everybody’s afraid,” said Susan Mooney, 67, of Laconia, a nurse whose husband is disabled.  She said the couple used Hannaford-to-Go and will now ask their grown daughter to do their grocery shopping.

Thursday morning at 6 a.m., Mooney drove to Market Basket in Tilton, where the parking lot was full with people age 60 and older who had come to shop between 5:30 am and 7:30 am.

“The lines were so long.  They were trying to do the best they can,” she said of Market Basket staff. There were no meat or potatoes left, and she said she left without buying anything, rather than wrangle crowds or linger at checkout. "We were not prepared for this in the entire U.S," Mooney said.

On Friday morning, just before 7, Beth Dixon was waiting outside.  From 6:30 to 7, Tilton Market Basket opened to shoppers with handicaps or chronic health conditions or lower immunity. During that time, few were inside.

"Last Saturday when I came, the whole parking lot was filled by 7:30," said Dixon. Reports that people are overbuying and hoarding eggs, bread, milk, meat, paper towels and toilet paper have been alarming others. "It makes me a little mad, angry that now I have to do this now, too – buy some things that I don't actually need," she said. Cat food and cat litter were the next to disappear, she said. So "I ordered stuff from Chewy," she said. "They guaranteed two-day delivery.  It took almost a week."

"The internet creates hysteria much quicker," said one shopper on her way into Market Basket. "That's what fuels the fears. Some times in history have been horrible.  We just have to get through it as we did before.  All you can do is live your life."

Shaw's grocery delivery service, InstaCart, still serves surrounding towns, including Tilton, where online orders of food can be delivered in under five hours, according to the Gilford store’s website. Items cost more than they do in-store, the site says. Delivery charges aren’t listed, and InstaCart doesn’t take phone calls from shoppers, and instead refers consumers to a downloadable app, accessed through the store’s website.

At Hannaford, general operating hours have shortened to 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, and seniors and immune-compromised consumers can shop from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. from Tuesday through Thursday., including at its stores in Gilford, Meredith and Franklin.

At Market Basket in Tilton, store hours are now 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday. Seniors can shop from 5:30 to 7:30 a.m. Tuesday through Thursday, and those with disabilities or lowered immunity can come Friday, Saturday and Sunday starting at 6:30 a.m.

Shaw's supermarket hours are now 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. Seniors and at-risk shoppers can come Tuesday and Thursday between 7 am and 9 am to avoid larger crowds at local stores in Gilford and Belmont.