Ensuring fresh produce is available for their customers is an ongoing challenge for grocery stores.
Stormy weather, like the three days of high winds and snow squalls that struck western Newfoundland this past weekend, can cause even more headaches.
“Weather plays havoc with it, for sure,” said Dwayne Decker, manager of the Dominion grocery store in Corner Brook. “But we’re living in Newfoundland, so it’s nothing we haven’t been used to.”
It’s not the snow that causes all the trouble. Decker said these past few months have been some of the windiest he has ever seen.
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High winds keep the Marine Atlantic ferries from docking, often leaving fresh produce aging on the North Sydney, N.S., dock instead of being picked through by shoppers in the grocery stores of Newfoundland.
The impact of the latest storm-caused delays likely won’t be felt at Dominion until later in the week, said Decker That’s because they avail of a warehouse in St. John’s that can get the store through a couple of days waiting on the latest shipments.
Still, the hams his store is advertising in this week’s flyer have not arrived and Decker said they may still not be here when the sale is scheduled to start Thursday morning.
He said there are other items that have relatively short shelf lives and any delay can jeopardize whether or not they even make it to the shelf.
“There are times we take stuff off the truck and literally throw it in the garbage,” he said. “We can apply for credit and get it back, but it’s bad. You have to have fresh product. You can’t be taking it off and trying to sell it all in the same day.”
While ferries and trucks began moving again Tuesday, Decker figures Dominion is about three tractor trailers behind on its fresh food deliveries. Some stores in St. John’s may be as many as five trucks behind, he noted.
The trucks still have to go to the warehouse for sorting and quality checking, which may result in some items being rejected for sale.
Whenever he sees strong winds in the forecast, Decker starts dreaming of there being a tunnel linking Newfoundland to the rest of the mainland. It sure would make his job a little less stressful.
“I can’t imagine anyone will be doing that any time soon, though” he said.
The Western Star reached out to both the Colemans and Sobeys grocery stores to see how they have been affected by the latest stormy weather, but neither had replied as of deadline Tuesday.
