Local shoppers look for order among the chaos
A long line ran all the way down the side of Costco Thursday morning, as members lined up in hopes of stocking up on food and supplies during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Social distancing was practiced, with each customer standing the recommended six feet away from each other. A Costco employee worked her way down the line, offering disinfecting wipes to the customers to wipe their carts with.
At the front of the line, two other employees kept watch, carefully counting how many they let in at a time.
“I have never seen anything like this, this is bizarre,” Lisa Jennings of Lodi said as she waited in the line.
She said she normally stocks up, and was just coming to get basic necessities like toilet paper.
Customer Julie Elmore, of Ione, loaded up her car from a cart full of food, snacks and other necessities in the parking lot.
“It was pleasant, I got in and out. But I planned on being here early,” Elmore said. “We have five kids, so we got everything we could, in case it gets depleted,” she said. She said everyone was keeping their distance inside the store, and noted that the water and toilet paper was roped off.
“Costco is good, not like a lot of other stores,” said customer Dominic Dequit, of Lodi. He also noted that he found the staff very professional and courteous.
Tomi Thomas, of Stockton, who traveled to the Lodi store with her son Stephen, 12, said the store was really calm. She purchased paper towels, rice, water and other items. “They wiped down the cart, it was very kind,” she said. “And after we unload, we’re going to sanitize our hands.”
In addition to the quick and orderly system Costco has put in effect for their members, individual kindness between customers was also evident.
Cinda Guerrero, of Stockton, who had arrived to buy paper towels among other things, found that they were already out of stock when she arrived. When she saw a man who had paper towels in his cart, she asked him when he had gotten there in order to snap them up. Instead of just answering her question, Guerrero said he told her ‘you look like a nice lady,’ and simply gave her his.