Clearly the hero of this pandemic has been Target Corporation, at least in Ames. When you walk into the store you notice 2 stark differences with Walmart. The first is a whiteboard right inside the door updated daily with a list of the things they’re out of. This way each shopper doesn’t have to wander around the store wasting 20 minutes finding out for themselves. Secondly, they have the row of sanitized carts ready to go. Walmart doesn’t attempt to wipe off the handles of their carts. For reasons I don’t entirely understand, Target has had a consistent supply of toilet paper, even from the start. Not in great quantities, and not always all the way till close of business, but a surprisingly good supply nonetheless. Walmart was letting toilet paper go out the store by the carton into April. Its only recently they actually started to enforce their own edict limiting quantities.

Of a more general nature its interesting to see where the toilet paper is. I’ve said from the beginning the surest judge of what stage this pandemic is in will be how the shelves are stocked of toilet paper. A surprise source, Ace Hardware, hasn’t been replenished from the start, March 15. Two smaller stores are almost back to full capacity, Dollar General and Dollar Tree. Walmart depending on the time of day is nonexistent. Its almost like their ordering system is so unwieldy, or they had no desire, to increase their stock. I refuse to go to Hy-Vee, so I don’t know on them. Fareway has had zero of the multi packs, though in a burst of ingenuity they came up with an off brand of single rolls that they have been well stocked in after the initial 3 weeks of the crisis.

But the biggest surprise has been the prices at Target. Using milk as my basis I have been buying their store bran, Good & Gather gallon for $2.29. So I can literally buy 2 gallons for the price of what I was paying for Anderson Erickson at Fareway or Walmart. Okay, so you say that’s comparing generic to name brand. But the Anderson Erikson is a dollar a gallon cheaper at Target too! That is weird, not .25 cents, or even .50, but an entire dollar? They do have their quirks. They have bad dates a lot of times on the milk because they load them side to side, instead of front to back. So what ends up happening is people see the best date and buy it, and they end up with a lot of unsold milk.

Their tuna for some reason they only sell cans that you have to use a can opener on. Their frozen food selection is limited. Their not doing a good job on getting rubbing alcohol. But all in all I like their attitude. They’re trying.

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Jigsaw puzzle pieces were different 80 years ago.