LUBBOCK, Texas — As quantities of hand sanitizer run short on Lubbock area store shelves this week, the United Family – including United Supermarkets and Market Street – announced Wednesday that there will be purchase limits.
On Monday, news broke in Houston that stores limited the number of sanitizer bottles any one customer could purchase.
By Tuesday afternoon and evening, images from Lubbock showed empty store shelves at several major retailers. Areas on the shelf set aside for sanitizer and other germ-killing items were empty.
Related Story: Lubbock stores running short of hand sanitizer, other products
These items began flying off the shelves as news broke that the U.S. experienced its first deaths related to COVID-19 – sometimes called coronavirus.
United said the limits would vary product-by-product and there would signs posted inside the stores.
The statement from United said:
“The United Family of stores has limited purchase quantities for a few items such as hand sanitizer, disinfecting sprays and wipes, bulk paper towels and bleach in order to provide sufficient product quantities to serve all of our guests. We closely monitor inventories of illness-prevention products in order to maintain supplies of items typically in heavier demand during viral outbreaks. The CDC provides these tips for staying healthy during a viral outbreak https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/prevention-treatment.html“
