Local grocery stores struggle to stock shelves amid product shortages
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Cat food has been missing from store shelves nationwide for months. Jeff Duritza said the Canonsburg and Washington Shop ‘n Save stores are having trouble getting canned cat food in; when it does arrive, it flies off the shelves.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Images of bare shelves are trending on social media. Locally, grocery stores are having a hard time stocking certain items, including yogurts, lunch meats and canned cat food.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Among those items in short supply at the Canonsburg Shop ‘n Save: biscuits.
It’s not over yet.
The inventory shortages that left grocery store shelves bare in spring of 2020 and made holiday shopping a headache are again impacting local stores’ ability to stock shelves.
Though bare shelves have become commonplace in certain parts of the United States – images of bare shelves are trending on social media – product shortages aren’t yet plaguing Southwestern Pennsylvania. That doesn’t mean local grocery stores aren’t feeling the strain of item scarcity and delivery issues.
“While we are not currently experiencing any widespread product shortages, there are many factors contributing to which items, flavors and brands shoppers may find on their next trip to the grocery store,” Dick Roberts, a spokesperson for Giant Eagle, said in an email.
“While product availability does vary by time and location, we are in a strong stock position in our fresh departments and, in most cases, have product options available across all categories where specific brand availability may be limited,” said Roberts.
At Shop ‘n Save, some hard-to-come-by groceries include frozen food, dairy (certain yogurts especially), paper plates and Jimmy Dean’s breakfast items, which have been in short supply for a while.
“Some soups are short. Some of the broths are a little low, a few cereals,” said Jeff Duritza of Duritza Enterprises, which owns Shop ‘n Save stores in Canonsburg and Washington. “Gatorade was tough to get. We’re having trouble getting egg noodles, and I heard that’s production.”
Production plays a large role in many shortages, including pet food.
“Cat food has been an ongoing issue,” he said. “It’s weird: dog food is OK. Cat food has been several months now. I don’t know if it’s all production or just getting products.”
He’s not the only one whose shelves are without cat food. Canned cat food, especially, is missing from shelves nationwide, including at retail pet store chains.
The Pet Food Institute, which provides information about pet food safety and nutrition, released a statement Jan. 4 about current pet food shortages, citing supply chain issues, transportation and infrastructure challenges as a root cause.
“At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the production of human food was widely disrupted, which also impacted the availability and costs of certain plant- and animal-based ingredients used in pet food,” the statement read. “Pet food makers are still experiencing those challenges to this day.”
Challenges aren’t affecting Muhly’s Little Convenience Store in Clarksville the way they are impacting other stores.
“It’s not been a serious problem,” said Eileen Muhly, who has owned the store with her husband, Bill, since 2007. “It’s not hurting our business any.”
But, she said, Muhly’s has had trouble acquiring certain items as of late.
“Probably our biggest shortage that our customers were aware of would be Yoo-hoo – they couldn’t get it in the bottle,” she laughed. “Obviously we don’t need that to survive.”
The Muhlys’ shelves were bare of chicken broth for several months; a shipment finally arrived Thursday.
“We weren’t able to get a certain generic cracker,” Muhly said.”Our supplier said the manufacturer was putting their brand name label on it and they didn’t have enough to do the more generic label.”
Aside from those small hiccups – and a toilet paper shortage when the pandemic hit last year – Muhly’s Little Convenience Store is in good shape.
So, too, is Byers Market in Uniontown.
“I’m not too bad,” said Donald Arthur, who has owned the store since 1996. “Red Bull I’m having a hard time with.”
Red Bull, lunch meats and prices: the rising cost of nearly everything is a bigger concern for Arthur.
“My biggest problem is keeping up with the price increases. That’s the biggest issue,” he said. “My steaks are jumping $32 to $50 a box. The milk’s going up. Bread is going up. Every time I turn around, there’s something going up. That is an issue.”
Durieza didn’t mention rising costs as an issue facing his stores, but delivery is.
“Transportation is a little bit of a key part,” he said. “Trucks are coming in – they just don’t have all the products we order.”
He’s not limiting the number of hot-ticket items a shopper can purchase, and Duritza hasn’t placed shortage signs at storefront entrances the way other grocers have, although popular items do fly off shelves.
Part of the reason for product shortages is the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Not only has the omicron strain affected staffing nationwide, but people are still dining in more than in years before 2020.
Roberts said Giant Eagle stores are increasing the number of product shipments to various locations to meet consumer demand for many items, and shifting logistics means delivery times and product availability may vary by location.
“In addition to increased demand, some manufacturers have been impacted by the national labor shortage, resulting in slower or reduced production,” Roberts said. “In some cases, manufacturers have decided to limit the number of item varieties or flavors being produced or place order allocations on certain items.”
Despite the ongoing supply chain issues, local stores are doing their best to keep shelves filled.
“We keep ordering,” said Duritza. “That’s all we can do.”