Some Southern California Costco Warehouses Bring Back Purchase Limits
HAWTHORNE (CBSLA) — Pandemic hoarding ended with 2020 – or did it?
Some Costcos around Southern California have again started limiting the number of essential items that shoppers can buy. Those items may sound familiar – toilet paper, paper towels, and bottled water.
At the Costco in Hawthorne, there were signs Monday limiting the purchase of toilet paper and paper towels to one package each, and two cases of bottled water.
At the start of the pandemic, stores were cleared out of essential items, frozen food, and cleaning products as stay-at-home orders were enacted. Stores at that time were slow to enact purchase limits, leading to empty shelves at several retailers. Sparse store shelves are still a familiar sight due to global shipping problems and driver shortages.
It's unclear why limits have made a comeback at some Costco warehouses, but could be a result of worsening coronavirus case rates due to the more contagious Delta variant.