As the second round of winter storms threaten to make roads impassable, people have been flocking to Walmart to stock up on last-minute necessities, and store employees have seen the effects. THROCKMORTON said they have moved many of the winter safety items to the front of the store for customer convenience.
“With the two storms being so close together, we are trying to get our stuff on the shelf as soon as possible,” Manager Jeff Livingston said.
He said the store has seen some shortages in different food items, mainly because of delays from last week’s winter storm. Distribution centers in Ottawa, Harrisonville, Mo., and Nebraska are all about one day behind in food deliveries. The store is currently receiving shipments from the distribution center in Bartlesville, Okla.
Livingston said people tend to flock toward certain “necessities” when a winter storm is moving into the area.
“It’s funny, people always go to milk, bread, bananas and butter,” he said.
Store shelves were well-stocked on Monday afternoon, as the snow began to fall across Allen County. The previous day, however, had left many empty shelves.
Livingston said several of the employees had volunteered extra hours to work open registers and assist people looking to get last-minute items.
“All of the registers had full lines, you couldn’t even walk through here,” said Cassandra Throckmorton, a customer service representative as she motioned toward the front of the store, near the registers.
While Livingston said the store has brought in 2,000 frozen items in the past 24 hours, nearly a full semi-truck load, his employees are still stretched thin in some of their inventories.
Frances Catron, an employee who works in the produce section, has seen some of the largest volume of customers.
“Food is flying off the shelves. It’s crazy, I can’t keep up,” she said. “I’m working as fast as I can.”
Bags of ice melt, salt, ice scrapers and water bottles lined the front of the store.
Livingston said the storm can be a hassle, but business will most likely even out with the large influx of customers, followed by slow business during the storm.
“Having people want to buy things is never a bad thing,” he said.
Peggy Barrett, a Walmart customer, said she was coming in mainly to get her medication before the storm hit Iola.
“I don’t drive in the snow, I’ll probably be stuck for a few days,” Barrett said.
As for the shortages, Livingston said they are doing their best to keep up and get things onto the floor. Many items are available, they just have not been put out yet. He said his customers have been doing a good job of talking with his customer services representatives when they need anything.
“That’s the great thing about this town, people are really great communicators,” he said.
Customers flock to Walmart before storm
