Grocery shopping health precautions may be here to stay

The novel coronavirus has altered the grocery shopping experience in Connecticut, and some changes may be long-lasting.

One-way aisles, plexiglass guards and facial protection are all part of what Connecticut Food Association President Wayne Pesce calls “a new shopping normal,” and he predicts some of the measures will remain postpandemic.

“It will be interesting to see how these new safety measures might transform consumers’ food shopping experience going forward,” Pesce said.

Before: Many people made trips to the store to buy a week or two’s worth of groceries.

After: Not only might people start reducing the number of times they go grocery shopping, but they may also start buying more groceries per trip and leaning toward more nonperishable and frozen foods. “Shoppers are buying more food at once when they come in,” said Stew Leonard’s representative Meghan Bell. Since the outbreak, she said grocery shoppers have also been “going back to basics.” Recent top-selling food items include peanut butter, frozen vegetables, cereal and boxed mac and cheese.

Before: Only some grocery stores offered home delivery and curbside pickup services.

After: More grocery stores have started offering these types of services. In response to an “unprecedented demand” for delivery services in recent weeks, Stop & Shop has hired more than 110 new workers statewide, said representative Maura O’Brien.

Before: Human interaction was not a major concern for shoppers.

After: Shoppers may lean more toward automation and delivery services in order to avoid human interaction. Pesce said he thinks online purchasing, touchless pay and curbside pickup trends will continue post-pandemic.

Before: Humans stock shelves with so-called “center-store” items, like flour and toilet paper and toothbrushes.

After:

Center-store items might be stocked by robots in lockers in the parking lot, where customers could pick them up at their leisure, according to Brad Knab, of grocery design firm Storemasters. The rest of the store will be devoted to fresh items. “Robots picking orders instead of humans to put in those food lockers, that’s coming,” he said. “It’ll be here, probably in my lifetime, for sure.”

Food retailers may also look to bring more automation to their stores, resulting in a reduced workforce. “Less human interaction has become a probable outcome and is both a blessing and a curse for any brick-and-mortar retailer,” Pesce said. “The virus has inexorably changed the grocery industry’s footprint and is accelerating technology trends.”