Several grocery stores are using cardboard cut-outs of food to trick customers into thinking the shelves are fully stocked.
Some stores are stocking their shelves with holiday and seasonal items to hide the large gaps in shelves. Other stores are putting cardboard sheets of pictures of items with price tags over barren shelves. Stores are also spreading out items of abundance to fill empty space.
According to Inside Edition:
“Retail analyst Phil Lempert believes retailers are attempting to stem panic shopping and quell fears that may lead people to begin hoarding items as they did in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Lempert emphasized that consumers are going to continue to see higher prices and continued shortages. He noted that retailers don’t want to look like their store is empty, relying on these unusual methods to mask the barren shelves.
Earlier in November, the Guardian reported similar things happening in European stores. The report stated, “Shoppers have spotted fake carrots in Fakenham, cardboard asparagus in London, pictures of oranges and grapes in Milton Keynes, and 2D washing liquid bottles in Cambridge. Sainsbury’s has also used outline drawings of packaging to fill shelves.”
One retail analyst noted that this trend has become more commonplace over the past year due to stores being too big. He also added that some desperate stores fill their meat fridges with tomato sauce or mayonnaise bottles. Others are spreading packs of beer across the entire aisle.
The empty shelves have become so commonplace that #EmptyShelvesJoe began trending on Twitter. One user showed an eerie scene where lawn chairs filled an entire aisle that would’ve otherwise sat empty.
We are at the edge of the precipice. The "pretending it's fine" aspect of the charade evokes a deep terror pic.twitter.com/sNvfHVyiwx
— Keque🚀 (@Keque_Mage) October 19, 2021
One user replied, “Watched this kinda stuff happen in Venezuela. Warned people about it. They started taking the same choices Venezuela once made, and we know where that got Venezuela. The US seems no different.”
Another photo showed cans of french fried onions at Safeway displayed as a single line to fill the shelves. One person responded, writing, “That is exactly what the Cuban government does … to hide the lack of products. Being a Cuban [this] is something I never expected to see in the US.”
The continued backlog of cargo ships in California is exacerbating the problem. That plus a growing trucker shortage is being called “Containergeddon.”
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