STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Shelves once holding laundry detergent, toilet paper and bread are now bare at various grocery stores across the borough, as effects of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak continue to ramp.
Sunday afternoon brought crowds of shoppers to Super Fresh in Great Kills, and Costco, Target and Stop and Shop in New Springville.
Costco has implemented a purchasing limit of two water cases per member.
“This is crazy,” one customer said, briskly walking towards the bottled water section of Costco. “It’s like we’re fighting to shop right now.”
The shopping scene on Staten Island has consisted of long lines, combative crowds and empty shelves for days.
Super Fresh employees at the Great Kills location, who worked double-time to handle lines during the hectic weekend rush, began refilling toilet paper shelves and stocking up on canned goods around 1 p.m.
Hand sanitizer appeared unavailable at all of the grocery stores Advance reporters visited Sunday afternoon.
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When the Advance/SILive.com visited Costco in New Springville, we were greeted by a line that stretched around the store. Customers grew impatient -- securing their place on line and guarding it to make sure no one would cut ahead of them.
The manager of the store was outside greeting customers and thanking them for shopping. He kept a strict count of people entering and leaving the store, and would stop the line to control the crowd inside, leaving customers standing still for about 10 minutes at a time.