What stores are the best at social distancing? What supplies are residents looking for most?
Shoppers maintain social distance at a local Trader Joe’s by Tim Brown licensed under Creative Commons.
Are you looking for a store in the region that is observing good social distancing? Chances are MOM’s Organic Market, Wegmans, or Trader Joe’s may be your choice. Are you wondering what supply items are most in-demand? Your suspicions may be right if you guessed toilet paper.
In mid-March, I got a call from the DC Department of Public Works asking if we could repurpose OurStreets, an app that crowdsources dangerous driving behavior and micro-mobility issues, to one that crowdsources the availability of essential supplies during the COVID-19 crisis. We, of course, said yes.
We also wanted to know how well retailers in the region were implementing and enforcing social distancing guidelines. Here’s what we found out.
How OurStreets Supplies works
OurStreets Supplies allows neighbors to share what’s in stock at neighborhood stores. Users can also let others know whether or not social distancing is being observed at stores. We know how helpful social distancing is to flattening the curve because we’ve seen it work in places like Seattle and San Francisco. So we got curious and started digging.
We took a look at the first 5,000 reports for the region made by OurStreets users. 160 stores were represented by 540 unique locations.
After crowding at the seafood market at the Wharf led to closures, we wondered how well retailers in the region were implementing and enforcing social distancing guidelines? When someone shares with OurStreets, the first question they’re asked is, “is social distancing being observed?”
Social distancing
We looked exclusively at stores with more than 50 unique reports. For major retailers with multiple locations, we combined individual stores to see how policies at the corporate level impacted how well social distancing guidelines were being observed. Stores got a percentage score based on how many times users indicated that social distancing was being observed.
| Top 5 | Bottom 5 | ||
| MOM’s Organic Market | 100% | ALDI | 77% |
| Open Door Market | 100% | CVS | 80% |
| Wegmans | 99% | Streets Market | 81% |
| Trader Joe’s | 98% | Harris Teeter | 81% |
| Target | 96% | Giant Food | 85% |
We weren’t surprised to see stores like Kalorama’s Open Door Market and Trader Joe’s score well. Even with smaller physical footprints, good enforcement, like limiting the number of people allowed in the store at one time, has made those stores easy to navigate and relatively better for shoppers and employees.
What’s in stock (and not)
Even with new regulations and precautions in place, the deciding factor on where to shop for most folks is still primarily whether or not a store has the item you’re looking for available for purchase. We looked into our data to see what people across the region have been looking for.
80% of the time, users reported finding items in stock. Much like we hypothesized, toilet paper was dominant. Both in terms of what was available and not, toilet paper leads OurStreet users’ shopping lists. 19% of users reported finding toilet paper.
Hardest to find items
- 60% of toilet paper shares were for no inventory in stock. Even with stores limiting the amount of TP families can purchase at once, it’s still the most widely sought after supply right now.
- Hand sanitizer came in next, with 18% of shares for no inventory in stock. Luckily, local businesses like Compass Coffee and Republic Restoratives have been making hand sanitizer to head off shortages.
OurStreets is a community-driven data platform. Just like with our street safety functionality, we built OurStreets Supplies believing that when people work together, communities are healthier and safer. As we collect more data, we’ll be able to provide insights like this in real-time to the Washington region and communities across the country.