Minnesota grocery stores certainly seem to have more products available on shelves as September ends than they did back in mid-March and early April.
Panic shopping at the start of the statewide COVID-19 quarantine wiped out shelves of toilet paper, cleaning supplies, meat, and other products. Now, it seems that supply and demand has somewhat leveled off at both a state and national level.
"We're seeing a crisis point with the fire out west or storms out east," Pful said. "When we had the pandemic hit in the beginning, panic was all across the nation for food supply. We saw it in all kinds of categories. Now we're managing that through the supply chain and getting things leveled out."
While prices may still be high according to the Consumer Price Index, Pful believes the industry is working hard to keep prices manageable for households facing multiple "pressure points."
Food deserts appeared in south Minneapolis following the killing of George Floyd. Looters and rioters destroyed multiple sources of food for families in the Longfellow neighborhood including the Target and Cub Foods stores.
Cub was able to open a temporary store at the East Lake Street location and Target plans to rebuild and reopen their store by mid-November. According to the Star Tribune, the company selected Noor Cos., a local Black-owned general contractor and development company led by Somali American entrepreneur Nawal Noor, to lead the store’s rebuilding.