BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — You may have noticed shelves at your grocery store looking a little sparse lately.
With the rise of omicron variant and severe weather, many grocery stores are experiencing supply chain struggles and labor shortages.
“Honestly, it has been rough. There’s been times when we’ve had items that we can’t keep on the shelves for a good couple of weeks. We have people coming constantly asking for those high demand items,” said Ceci Gonzalez, Los Reyes Market Owner.
Gonzalez said being a Mexican market, one of the items that is always missing is hominy which is used in pozole.
“Before the holidays, some of our vendors were like this stuff is going to sell out. I didn't quite believe them, but we did buy pallets of it. They’re gone and it's something that’s been so hard to find.”
Gonzalez said it's not just traditional foods that are hard to come by but major brands as well.
“Coke, Pepsi, they’ll tell me, ‘Well we have the product we just don't have the material we use to make the bottle so therefore we can't bring you any soda.’”
Gonzalez said in the last 3-4 months they’ve seen more and more things disappear off the shelves.
Los Reyes Market isn’t the only grocery store being affected by supply issues and many customers just want to get their favorite products back.
“I’ve been looking for the jasmine rice, but I just talked to a manager. She said she’s going to try and order it and hopefully have it by the end of the week,” said Aine Moreno, an avid shopper.
Aine Moreno said she shops at Los Reyes nearly every day and she’s upset when she can’t get her products but appreciates that management works with her to get what she needs.
“I would just ask people to try to give us a little grace, be understanding that this is beyond our control. You know we’re literally doing everything within our power to have the items that they want to come here and purchase. We’re trying to stay competitive and we’re trying to keep the prices down.”
