Took Mrs. Sparks on a little out-of-the-way shopping excursion today, up to southeastern N.Y. In between visits to craft stores and other girl-type places, we went to a Sam's Club, Home Depot and Wal-Mart. Here's what my Y2K weather-eye spotted:

Sam's Club:

No generators. None. Nada. Asked a manager, "What's up with the generators?" Reply: "Oh, we won't be getting any in for some time, it's this Y2K thing." Response: "Really? I heard it wasn't going to be so bad. Are people buying a lot of food, too?" ( I asked this last somewhat jokingly). Reply: "Well, we've been selling a lot more of some kinds of food lately - rice and canned goods are really selling well." Response: "Gee, maybe I'd better start stocking up!" (Again, somewhat laughingly). Reply: "Hey, might not be a bad idea, considering the state of the world."

Interesting exchange, I thought.

Home Depot

Saw a couple of Coleman light-duty generators, no Generacs or anything above about 2000 watts. Salesman said they'd been hard-pressed to keep generators of any size in stock, particularly larger (4-5+ Kw) units.

Wal-Mart:

No gensets of any description, and as is customary with Wal-Mart there was nary an employee in sight, so couldn't inquire as to their order status. Camping department had a few mantles and a couple lanterns... a lot less than I'd seen last time I'd been there, about two months ago. Oil lamps were in evidence, well-stocked as a matter of fact.

This area is not too far from where I live in N.J., but apparently a few dozen miles makes a difference - in N.J. the club stores (as well as the local Honda dealers) are filled with generators, and I swear I've seen the very same 50 lb. bag of rice in one club store for the past 6 months.

Comments?

-- sparks (wireless@home.com), March 26, 1999

Answers

Sparks,

Did a scope out of the local hardware store the other day... Have to confirm your sitings..No Generators..5 Gal Buckets? Three left in 20ft of display space (no lids)... No oil lamps ... Lots and Lots of Everything I didn't need...

helium

-- helium (heliumavid@yahoo.com), March 26, 1999.

Went to Hechinger's (like Home Depot) in Northern Virginia this week to get 33 gal metal trash cans to store stuff in (like pet food). They didn't have any left.... Never thought there would be a run on metal trash cans this early!

-- Libby Alexander (libbyalex@aol.com), March 27, 1999.

Went a local food distributor over the week end and learned that churches in Maine (don't know how many) were stocking up heavily. Also many individuals had bought staples in large amounts from this central Maine distribuotr.

-- Charles Stewart (cstewart@ime.net), March 27, 1999.