SAN ANTONIO – It was something everyone was talking about Thursday and even more so Friday.
People are still rushing to grocery stores and clearing shelves of necessities, even though KSAT’s Weather Authority team has assured the community this weekend will not be an emergency situation like it was in 2021.
While some stores are still unaffected and running as usual, some have been completely picked over.
KSAT viewers sent in pictures from the H-E-B in Leon Springs taken at 9 p.m. on Thursday. The shelves for water, toilet paper and paper towels were bare. Most of the dairy shelves were cleared out as well.
On Friday, a viewer sent pictures from the H-E-B in Olmos Park showing the meat and paper goods sections empty.
Even people trying to order curbside are getting messages from store workers, saying the items they need are out of stock.
The store chains H-E-B and Walmart have kept in contact with KSAT and have said this panic-buying is not necessary because they do have a lot of inventory.
However, it’s hard to refill shelves when people are continuously emptying them.
KSAT did reach out to H-E-B again Friday asking for an interview instead of a statement, but they did not provide one.
The H-E-B statement Friday is similar to Thursday’s, saying, “We have product and our stores are receiving product deliveries. Our Partners are restocking shelves throughout the day, so any unavailability is temporary.”
On Thursday, a viewer told KSAT they tried to place an online order at Walmart and there were products listed as “unavailable.”
A Walmart representative told KSAT that “there have been surges in online orders due to the expected winter weather that caused some backups and might explain why they couldn’t place the order at that time.”
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