No Sports, No Pasta, No Bread, But There’s Wine. Oh, and Tequila
Nothing will fill the void of so many televised sporting events being canceled, he said. But booze might soften the blow.
(Bloomberg) -- No March Madness. No NBA. No NHL. No Masters. But there’s booze.
“I just need a drink,” said Anthony Venezia, cradling two bottles of wine, a Tuscan and a Cabernet Sauvignon. “This is to relax. I’m not worried they’re going to run out of wine, but I can’t even get pasta or bread.”
Venezia, 50, runs commercial buildings for a living. “I tried to order hand sanitizer for my lobby, and it was on backorder until June. People are hysterical,” he said, a CVS bag in hand.
Lines are lengthening around the country for food and provisions. Sales are up too for liquor, as people hunker down at home and need, finally, to unwind. A salesperson in Mister Wright Fine Wines and Spirits in Manhattan said the store had 15 times as many online orders as normal yesterday.
Down the street, Erica Garcia, 25, perused McCabe’s Wines & Spirits for bargains on white wine. “It’s so I can have friends over who aren’t sick and just be around people,” she said.
Stir Crazy
Shoppers zig-zagged through the aisles, trying not to knock carefully stacked bottles. “We’re all going a bit stir-crazy after working from home,” she said. “Oh, I have tequila at home too.”
Delivery seems to have eased crowding that has left food shelves around country locust-stripped. Some staff can’t keep up as orders come in waves based on the news. “It’s like late December,” said JD Phelps, 43, store manager at Vintage Grape Wines & Spirits.
“Each time the president speaks, it helps us tremendously,” he said. “We got really busy after his Thursday speech.”
Nothing will fill the void of so many televised sporting events being canceled, he said. But booze might soften the blow.
“People thinking they might be in their homes for a while want to stock up for the weekend,” he said.
But it may not be just for the weekend. “My good friend took his family to the Hamptons and doesn’t know when he’s coming back.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Hailey Waller in New York at hwaller@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Ludden at jludden@bloomberg.net, Ian Fisher, James Amott
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