Smaller Thanksgiving gatherings lead to change in holiday grocery shopping habits

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    NEWINGTON, CT (WFSB) — Thanksgiving is Thursday and celebrations may be smaller this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

According to grocery stores, the virus has not only changed the size of holiday gatherings, it also changed what people are buying.

Preparations for Stew Leonard’s in Newington started about two to three months ago.

The store said its turkeys and pies, of course, were a hit, along with one other signature item.

“We sell a ton of snowball rolls,” said Jamie DiStefano, vice president, Newington Stew Leonard’s.

The supermarket chain said this year, catering sales also doubled.

“A lot of people usually travel this holiday,” DiStefano said. “They’re used to going to a family member’s house or friend’s house in which meals are prepared for them.”

Shoppers like Troy Moore said they geared up for a different Thanksgiving this year due to COVID-19.

“Normally we have people over. We’re just doing my immediate family this year,” Moore said. “We’re just going to cook and probably do Zoom calls with other people and that’s how we’re going to celebrate Thanksgiving.”

One of the popular trends this year has been people shifting away from larger turkeys and instead opting for the smaller ones.

“Generally, anywhere from 16- to 24-pound turkeys has been the size that is most popular in years past,” DiStefano said. “This year we’re finding 10 to 16 are the most popular turkeys that we’re selling right now.”

DiStefano said he noticed that customers started their thanksgiving shopping earlier this year.

“Especially on frozen items, canned goods, stuff like that because I think people know that Tuesday and Wednesday are busy and they may want to avoid the crowds,” he said.

The next two days are set to be very busy as people pick up their Thanksgiving groceries.

This year, many are turning to curbside pickup and delivery options like Instacart.

“A lot of our stores have gone strictly curbside with the catering orders for Thanksgiving,” DiStefano said.

That way people can safely prepare their Thanksgiving meals.

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