NORTHEAST U.S. – Grocers in the Northeast U.S. have been left with empty shelves in the wake of Winter Storm Juno. One interesting commodity that seemed to be in top demand was kale.
Business Insider reports that in preparation of the potentially historic snowstorm, panicked shoppers took to Twitter and Instagram to document kale shortages in New York and Boston.
Other shoppers took to social media with the hashtags #blizzardof2015 and #Snowmageddon2015 to post photos of long lines at stores like Whole Foods, Trader Joe's and Market Basket.
Time.com points out that this type of pre-storm mad rush to the supermarket is more reliable than the actual weather forecasts. Nearly one year ago in fact, this same set of events happened in preparation to the sub-zero temperatures associated with the polar vortex.
Time contributor and consumer psychologist Kit Yarrow explained his view on this shopping behavior in an email to Time.com. He said, “It starts with a normal impulse to stock up on things that might not be available for a few days. Panic hits when the stores are jammed with other shoppers and the shelves look a little bare.”
Luckily this blizzard wasn't quite the Snowpocalypse that people feared. For now, it appears shoppers have some extra food in their pantries and retailers have a lot of shelf stocking and merchandising to do.
