Grocers give preference to older shoppers, but not all are ready for the early business

PROTECTING EMPLOYEES AND CUSTOMERS: At the Whole Foods Market in Paramus this morning, employees arriving for work had to stop to have their temperature checked, one of the measures put in place in response to the coronavirus pandemic.  

NO LONGER A GATHERING PLACE: The seating area where the mandatory temperature checks are made once was filled with shoppers stopping for coffee or eating lunch from the prepared food buffets. Regulars included groups of elderly Korean-American men brought to the store in small buses from senior citizen centers.

Editor's note: This post has been edited to add material about the reopening of the Korean  supermarket in Ridgefield known as H Mart,  and one-way aisles at the ShopRite in Paramus. 

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- Did you hear about the Whole Foods Market near Jupiter, Fla., where customers 60 years old and older are the only ones allowed to shop in the first hour the natural and organic food store is open?

After 9 a.m., the supermarket is empty -- given how few young people live in nearby retirement communities.

In New Jersey, however, there are plenty of younger customers at the Whole Foods in Paramus, where I shopped this morning starting at around 8:30 a.m.,during the hour devoted to older Americans.

A week ago, I waited on a long line of other shoppers like me who are 60 years old or older and who had been waiting -- 6 feet apart -- for the 8 a.m. store opening. 

Today, around 8:30, I just showed my I.D. to the employee outside the front doors, and walked in to get a cart and sanitary wipes.

Costco Wholesale in Teterboro, ShopRite supermarkets and the Korean supermarket chain known as H Mart also are giving preference to older shoppers in their first hour of business.

At the Costco Business Center in Hackensack, "senior hours" are 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Costco and other food stores also have changed their policies on returns, and most won't be accepting them during the pandemic.

The Paramus ShopRite's special hours for older Americans are 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. That sounds more like punishment than accommodation.

H Mart reopens

But I haven't seen any other supermarket outside of Whole Foods that checks the temperature of employees as soon as they walk in the front door.

On April 4, the large Korean supermarket known as H Mart in Ridgefield closed temporarily for cleaning and restocking after an employee came down with a "suspected" case of the coronavirus, according to a notice on the front door I saw last Sunday.

After the store reopened on April 16, only customers 60 years and older were given priority in the first 30 minutes the store is open.

Previously, shoppers "with disabilities, compromised immune systems and expectant mothers," as well as customers who are 60+, were able to shop by themselves in the first hour.

Signs of trouble

Today, as with my shopping trip to Whole Foods on a week earlier, I found missing or inaccurate price signs in produce and fresh seafood.

Besides apples, sweet potatoes and parsley -- all organic -- I picked up mangoes, clementines and a few pounds of boneless pork loin chops after I saw the chops were on sale for $5.99 a pound (normally $8.99 a pound).

But when I checked my receipt, I saw I wasn't given the discount for the chops or the extra 10% off for Amazon Prime Members.

I had to hunt down a customer service employee (no one was at the customer service desk). She took my receipt and went to the butcher section in the rear of the store, then returned to give me a credit of $15.59, including 1 pound free and my extra 10% Prime discount.

SAFETY BARRIER: Today, I saw large plexiglass barriers put up to separate the cashier from the customer at Whole Foods Market. Costco Wholesale in Teterboro and the Costco Business Center in Hackensack had similar barriers in place at the end of March. Another benefit is that Whole Foods customers no longer have to self-scan their Prime Member code on their smartphones, which was a ify proposition, because the new barrier blocks the scanner.

SOCIAL DISTANCING: This customer had a shopping cart full of produce and other items and packed them all by himself. But at Whole Foods, Costco and ShopRite, social distancing or keeping 6 feet away from other customers is difficult because of narrow aisles and shoppers who barge through store intersections with full shopping carts. Customers of the Paramus ShopRite largely ignore one-way aisles.

TODAY AT 9:20 A.M.: When I drove away from Whole Foods Market, I paused to look at the younger shoppers waiting on line to get into the store.