While we are all still waiting for our state to turn green, we have all taken part in some interesting shopping trends. No, we’re not talking about toilet paper and Clorox wipes. We have more time on our hands to finally do the things that we haven’t had the time. Now we have all the time in the world! Unfortunately, now is the worst time to find the tools that we need. Sales of Home organization, gym equipment, and hobby supplies (two in particular) have skyrocketed through the roof while we have all been quarantined at home.
Since we’ve been all bored in the house and we’re all in the house bored, a lot of us have focused on that awkward corner in the pantry, trying how to best optimize that one square inch of space. You know what I’m talking about. You’ve thought it, too. TJ Maxx, HomeGoods, and Marshalls have been closed since quarantine happened. We’ve had to resort to secondary means to supply our home organization. Major online retailers like Walmart, Amazon, and Target have jumped on this opportunity to usurp some of TJ Maxx’s shoppers during these unprecedented times. To be honest, if TJ Maxx stores weren’t closed at this time, it wouldn’t have made me think about what functionalities I want in an item. A wise friend once told me, “You don’t go to TJ Maxx for something you want, you go to TJ Maxx so it can tell you what you need.” I would have just gone to TJ Maxx looking for a bin. But since I couldn’t, I thought about what I wanted the bin to look like, what features I wanted, and the size I needed. I had the option to shop around, instead of feeling pressured into buying an item in fear of it being gone if I came back in a couple of days. Another plus side of all these online retailers trying to zone in on TJ Maxx’s customers? They are offering plenty of coupon codes and sales during these times!
One big thing that people have had to endure this quarantine was the closings of gyms. This hit people hard since not a majority of us don’t have access to gym equipment at home. It’s easier to just pay a gym membership and go there to use their equipment. Sales of gym equipment have spiked so that people weren’t gaining weight or could cancel out all the snacking they’ve been doing. This made retailers put restrictions on how many items people could purchase, like on toilet paper and Clorox wipes. Target was limiting one dumbbell per transaction! Pretty hard to work out with one dumbbell when it’s common to use two of the same size. While retailers were limiting or struggling to keep their items in stock, online retailers like Amazon were overcharging for their gym equipment. The lack of stock forced some gym-goers to get creative to fulfill their workout needs. One viral guy made an entire gym out of wood. Others were using gallons of water or just body weights to work out.
Lastly, people have been doing a lot of baking! The issue, however, is getting your hands on the necessary items. I was definitely one of those people who started taking up baking as a hobby. To be fair, I had already mentioned I wanted to bake bread before quarantine happened. This just happens to be the perfect situation to force me into finally starting it. At first, it was hard getting my hands on common bread making ingredients, flour, and yeast. If you were going to start baking other things, forget it, it’s even harder. I was able to get my hands on a big bottle of yeast along with a couple of bags of flour and that’s when I went into my baking frenzy. It was hard finding more flour and yeast the further we got into quarantine. It’s since died down now and the stores are plenty stocked. Still can’t find yeast though.
When a snowstorm hits, it’s hard to find water and cans of peas. When pandemic happens, it’s toilet paper and now gym equipment. It’s interesting to see what is going through the mind of consumers during major life events.