WESTFIELD – The Boy Scouts of America are not the only ones who live by the mantra “be prepared”, as numerous grocery stores and markets in the city also try to always be one step ahead of the weather
New England has seen several feet of snow fall since superstorm Juno dropped by four weeks ago, stores such Westfield’s two Big Y Supermarkets, located on East Silver and East Main Streets, receive several product deliveries daily and receive goods in even larger bulk when inclement weather is scheduled on the horizon.
“We live in New England so most people know how to deal with the snow. The difficulty comes when the trucks don’t show up,” said Brian Pepe, store manager of the Big Y on East Silver Street.
Aside from the traditional blizzard staples such as bread and milk, Pepe said that customers routinely pick up other items in bulk.
“We sell a lot of bottled water,” he added, as well as non-food items. “A lot of windshield fluid, rock salt and those sorts of items.”
Pepe stated that, within Big Y’s network of stores, the needs of each store are different for each load they receive.
“It depends on the business of the store. We get different trucks every day,” he said. “Produce trucks come every day and all the rest of the stuff comes at least five times a week. Milk comes twice a week.”
“When there are storms you really have to back up a lot, so you order a little bit extra,” Pepe said.
As to how this week’s storm has compared to the previous three the region has experienced in the new year, Pepe said that Big Y has a good system in place to ensure customers have the goods they need for when Mother Nature acts up.
“Everybody knows what to do. We’ve been doing this for a long time,” he said.
