Met Foods, 44-07 43rd Avenue (Photo: QueensPost)
Aug. 27, 2011 By Christian Murray
With the steady drumbeat of warnings from city officials about the severity of Hurricane Irene, locals heeded the call on Friday night and stocked up on food, water and emergency supplies. John Han, an owner of Met Food said, “This is the busiest night we have ever had,” with lines from the back of the store to the check out counters.
Home Depot at 50-10 Northern Blvd. was bustling all day Friday till its 11 p.m. closing. The store was out of size C and D batteries at 1 p.m., and by 3 p.m., the waterproof tarps were sold out. The Super Stop & Shop at 34-51 48th Street had shelves empty of bread and other staples, and weekly sales were called off, causing one shopper to complain of “price gouging.” (On Saturday, discounts were back.) With the entire mass transit system scheduled to be shut down at noon Saturday, Manhattan’s Battery Park City and parts of Nassau country evacuated, the mood was mixed.
Some were elated at the friendliness that often comes when many face a massive common concern, sharing new information and offering to help. Others were anxious or caught up in preparing for rain forecast to start before noon Saturday. “I have been out already four times today to get things, like candles, water and food,” said one man, a resident on 43rd Avenue, “I keep thinking of things I may need. Now, I am back out to get pet food and matches for the candles.”
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10 Comments
Honeynut cheerios with beer is a delicious staple!
From the picture – the only person I can make out what they’re ordering is the guy in the red utopia shirt. Looks like his emergency supplies are:
1 six pack of budweiser
1 gallon of water
1 box of honey nut cheerios
–See the news has it all wrong. If there’s the potential for a major emergency when they tell you to stock up for 3 days this is all you really need. I’ll email this list to FEMA so they can correct their survival guide.
I’ve started using Fresh Direct (LIC) for most of my shopping.
Although their prices are about the same (yes, high rip-off for what they really should be), their produce is excellent quality. I was frankly surprised. It’s as if I’m there picking out the fruit and veggies myself (I’m obsessive over finding “perfect” fruit).
So to me it’s worth the extra $ = quality + convenience.
Of course I get my red meat from Omaha Steaks – again awesome quality albeit high prices.
So now Met and other shops I just pick up dairy, eggs, chicken and sometimes chips & salsa.
From Habibi I pick up fresh pita bread and a few other items.
That’s it I’m set.
Along these lines, has anyone noticed the huge price jumps at Met? I understanding having to raise prices somewhat to finance the expansion, but I mean there has been a major jump. Tribe hummus was $3.29, and it’s now $5.29. Always had issues with Met not placing price tags on the shelves or items, and now it seems they think we won’t notice such a hike in prices.
everyone try freezing your bread every now and then so there will not be a problem
THEY BOUGHT ALL THE EFFING BREAD!
jeeze! i couldve told you irene was gonna be weak, no need to take all the wonder bread >:|
I understand that since the store has expanded it has used its new space in a beautiful way the aisiles are wider the meat selection is better and roomerie store. Fantsicic for them and for us.
It is obviuis to me and mabe to others that we need a emergencye deleveiy service for bad weather conditions like snow storms blizzads and hurricanes and heat waves. similiar to wheels or wheels but a more smille list of food ideas for just a few days .Need a few people to volunteer their time and get a grant from brammer office or nolan office . anyone interested please write me back throught this post
The thing that really perplexes me is when a large snow storm is coming home depots and pretty much everywhere are mobbed with people buying shovels. Now I can understand a few people, ya know? But enough to decimate the entire shovel stock? What do they do with their old shovels? I still have my grandfather’s shovels (although I did purchase a new ergonomic one a few years back).
*Sighs* Poor people.
People should get in the habit of always having extra food and water stored at home. With hurricanes we get a couple of days advance warning but what are people going to do when some disaster hits us completely by surprise?
Shocking to see. I was at Met at 7 or 7:30 am on Friday and there was like 3 customers there and the shelves were pretty full. All I needed was some milk for my coffee and some bread. Maybe I should’ve picked up some salsa and chips.
Most people shop on the weekends and so poor MET and other stores had to deal with 3 days worth of customers packed into a Friday afternoon.
He removed the sales? That’s cheesy. Maybe he should’ve just limited the quantity so people wouldn’t buy those items in bulk.
Well – best wishes to all and I hope everyone makes it through with no damage. Most of all I hope the electricity stays on so I can check Sunnyside Post 😀