This Week at the Coop: Sandy Edition

Long lines, missed shifts, unexpected closures, and empty shelves. This has not been a fun week at the Park Slope Food Coop. But there are signs that things are starting to get back to normal.

Both the express and normal lines still snake around aisles, but the half-hour queues yesterday afternoon were nothing compared with the epic waits before and after Sandy’s visit. And the many empty shelves are due not to a shortage of food but the inability of the receiving squad to keep up with the shelving demands. Flats loaded with food waited outside the coop’s loading doors while receivers scrambled to get them inside.

The long lines do not seem to be the result of food shortages. Rather, residents’ confinement has lead many to carry out activities normally reserved for weekends. Coffee shops and restaurants seem much more crowded, retailers look like they’re doing brisk business, and the streets themselves are teeming with people.

The Coop is getting not only a great many customers, but a lot of worker volunteers, too. Members looking to make up missed shifts have showed up in droves. So many members have come in for missed shifts that the Coop has posted a warning that they will turn members away if there is no work to be done. With the phones out, it is hard to ascertain if the Coop needs people at any given time. At 2pm yesterday, it certainly looked like they could use more people on the receiving squad.