Seniors flock to special hours at DFW stores, adapt to new ways of grocery shopping
Jan Lane doesn’t shop the way she used to.
Lane, a Granbury resident, patiently stood with her cart in a line of hundreds of other 60-plus citizens that wound around the outside of a Fort Worth Costco before it opened its doors on Thursday morning. A teal medical mask covered the lower third of her face. Clear plastic gloves protected her hands. In the basket of her cart sat a container filled with her own homemade disinfectant wipes.
To make the wipes, Lane slices up paper towels and soaks them in lavender, tea tree and thieves oils with warm water and a touch of aloe. It’s not easy — as anyone who has used a grocery store in the past two weeks can attest — to find wipes.
She was capitalizing on Costco’s new service on Tuesdays and Thursday allowing anyone over the age of 60 to begin shopping one hour before opening. The policy, which is similar to those implemented by other major retail stores, reflects a new reality in American supermarkets during the coronavirus pandemic. Shelves are empty, checkout lines are crowded and those who are most vulnerable to COVID-19 can be put at risk.
Lane’s shopping routine begins with her disinfecting her cart before she touches the handle and sets down her purse. As she practices social distancing, she will fill her cart with the essential items she needs in order to avoid another trip for a little while. When she gets home, she washes fruits and vegetables and discards packaging.
She began treating the coronavirus more seriously about 10 days ago when she saw a report on ABC’s 20/20 about “how fast it’s spreading and how dangerous it is.” She already wears a medical mask in her home to take care of her immunocompromised brother, so she started putting one on when she went outside too.
“I put my faith in God and God will get us through this,” she said standing outside of Costco on Thursday morning. “But I don’t want to be dumb and ignore anything.”
There are increasing signs the coronavirus can have devastating impacts in young and otherwise healthy individuals. But as the world has learned about COVID-19, a large focus of public messaging has been on how immunocompromised or older individuals seem to be getting sicker more regularly than other groups.
Many older Americans, of course, still have to leave the house to get groceries. So stores are trying to help them out.
And seniors, like everyone, are changing the way they shop.
At the Costco located on Overton Ridge Boulevard on Thursday morning, a line extended from the front entrance into the parking lot, and it became so long it curved around at the end and came back the other way. The first people in line said they arrived before 7 a.m. for the 8 a.m. opening. There was a safe social distance between customers.
Almost everyone had disinfectant wipes with them, and others wore gloves and face masks, or fashioned other clothing into a makeshift mask. A Costco employee ushered them into the store, a few people at a time.
Rebecca Martinez, 64, of Fort Worth, said the store has done a good job of stocking up on suddenly in-demand products like toilet paper, and they don’t limit customers to one item like other stores do. That makes a big difference for people who are shopping for their family, trying to take care of those who can’t get out, she said.
Her mother-in-law and sister-in-law live in a home next door to hers. Both are recovering from recent surgery.
“You want to just make sure you have enough so you may have to shop more often,” she said. “And you still can’t always get what you need.”
She appreciates that management at Costco try to implement a social distance with their checkout lines as well as the line to get into the store. She has family members who work in the medical field, and she understands the need to be overly cautious and follow what the scientists are saying.
“Just follow those instructions,” she said.
Walter Wosten, 63, and Paula Wolsten, 62, of Weatherford, are more concerned by panicked Americans than by the possibility of contracting the coronavirus. People are “freaking out,” Paula said, hoarding enough toilet paper that finding any toilet paper becomes a challenge. It has made grocery shopping a more stressful experience, she said.
But they were trying to keep a sense of humor about it on Thursday morning.
Walter, a veteran, joked that it wasn’t a big deal if they couldn’t find any toilet paper.
“Being in the former military, that’s why you wear T-shirts,” he said.
Stores with hours for senior citizens and vulnerable individuals:
- Walmart is allowing seniors or vulnerable people to shop in the hour before opening on Tuesdays.
- Whole Foods is letting anyone 60 or older to shop an hour before opening to the public until further notice.
- Target is opening an hour early to seniors on Wednesdays.
- Walgreens has instituted a senior hour for shopping from 8 to 9 a.m. on Tuesdays.
- Dollar General has a senior hour during the first hour it’s open each day.
- Aldi stores will open at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays for vulnerable shoppers including senior citizens.
- Big Lots stores are reserving the first hour for senior citizens.
- Albertsons stores are setting aside two hours every Tuesday and Thursday for seniors and vulnerable individuals.
- Fresh Market is reserving its first hour for senior citizens or those who are most at-risk.
- Sam’s Club is open to seniors and vulnerable individuals from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
- Safeway is setting aside 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays as a time for seniors and vulnerable individuals to shop.
- Stop & Shop is allowing customers 60 and older to shop each morning from 6 to 7:30.
- Trader Joe’s has made the first hour of shopping each day available to senior customers.
