CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio — If someone wants to check the pulse of a community, just go to the supermarket.

Zagara's Marketplace is a staple in the Cleveland Heights community, and as shoppers prepare for the holidays — store owner John Zagara said he has seen some changes in the way his customers shop.

"The trend continues that people are stocking up on pantry items. They're not buying as many prepared items because they don't trust the process. They're afraid of buying something that is made that could have possibly been made by somebody with COVID," Zagara said.

What You Need To Know

  • More people are shopping days ahead of the holiday

  • People are buying more pantry stock items

  • Grocery stores have lower stock of some items because of low supply for supplier

When it comes to prepared foods in the store the display cases are noticeably less filled.

And catering orders aren't where they normally are in part because of a loss of staff.

"We had a couple of our primary, key catering people, retire this past year and we haven't been able to replace them with this coronavirus," he said.

Zagara said most customers are buying raw turkeys and hams but that didn't stop Zagara's from still providing cooked ones for customers, too.

"We did some for Thanksgiving with our existing staff. We took like a half dozen orders maybe a dozen. But nothing that you would think would be like a deal changer. We didn't do a hundred turkeys."

Zagara said he has also had a hard time keeping the shelves stocked. Some things just aren’t available from suppliers. Customers have noticed that too.

"An interesting one yesterday was a customer was asking for peppermint extract. I didn't know if we had peppermint extract. So I ran down on the floor and there's a tag peppermint extract by McCormick: No product. No product," he said.

When people are shopping has also changed.

"What we are seeing is people shopping much earlier. They're not working. The economy is still kind of shut down. So people are coming three and four days before the holiday. (That) is what they were doing for Thanksgiving. They were shopping pretty hard over the weekend and on Monday even instead of waiting until Wednesday," he said.