[Sheel]

As mentioned in one of my earlier post (The Coronavirus Thread).

There is a slight change though, now, I place order via WhatsApp, once the order is done, I get a call with the bill, I only have to go and pick the order up.

I have gone out 2 times as of now. Vegetables are hand delivered by vendors and there are a couple of sellers just ~100 meters away from home on the main road.

Avoiding fruits etc as they may be from a cold storage and not really fresh. Milk is delivered and is boiled instantly.

Despite no cases being reported in my area, we still take and shall continue to take max precaution.

[AltoLXI]

I am going out for milk, water, groceries and vegetables covering face with double layered cotton cloth and glasses.

Milk : I walk down to the vendor around 200 meters near my house as usual. Usually no rush there. Get 4 liters at a time and boil 2 liters immediately and other 2 liters next day.

Water : Regular guys from super market stopped delivery of 20 liter bottles. Did with boiling borewell water for a few days but found gas wastage/hard water deposit/taste not worth. Bought empty water bottle for 150/- and going to BBMP RO storages and get 20+ liter of water once 3 days. Costs 8/- for full bottle. Taste is good. Rest of people in apartment always got the water from there but I started now.

Grocery : Flipkart delivered once. Went twice to grocery stores nearby and bought two months worth items. No need to go for another 1 month.

Vegetables/Fruits : Our regular store as usual. Getting all vegetables / fruits.

[ishan12]

We have been lucky to not face any issue with regards to groceries/ fruits/ vegetables milk etc. All thanks to the nearby Grocery stores who have rescued us. We have been regularly buying our monthly groceries from D-Mart since last several years, we have a large D-Mart store hardly 1.5 km from our house in Balewadi, but it now feels unsafe to visit given the current situation in Pune. Also, people have to wait outside in line for atleast 45 mins for their turn.

We have 3 Kirana (grocery) stores within 500 meters from our house (one large and 2 small). The large one can be called a departmental store. The owner of the store has been replenishing stock in his own bolero since many transporters are asking for high prices. He only allows 3 people to get in at once in the store, rest need to wait outside for their turn which is good.
I'm sure many people in cities who have been traditionally buying from supermarkets are now buying from these Mom and Pop stores as they are called in retail language.

Such deep penetration of unorganized retain in our country has saved all of us from standing in queue outside a super market for hours.

[ranjitnair77]

Kudos to the small grocery stores who have really stepped up during this crisis. Our grocery store owner takes the order over Whatsapp and things get delivered in a couple of hours or so. We have been his customer for decades so he delivers it. For others he requests a pickup once the items are ready. There is minimal risk of infection.

Milk supplies are not an issue, our vendor is delivering daily. Newspaper delivery has been stopped for now but we continue to pay the vendor so that his business is not affected. We also have the occasional vegetable vendor swing by in our society so the immediate needs are fulfilled. I have to do a veggie run once a week to the nearby market.

I hope that we go back to building relationships and patronising our small neighbourhood stores and vegetable markets once the pandemic blows over. It's not always about the best deals that you can get, it's about people. And these are the folks making a far bigger impact than the big, faceless department stores.

[rakesh_r]

Though I live in Pune, currently at my native, Palakkad, Kerala. I have access to three grocery and veggie stores and two medical stores in one km radius. As of now haven't faced any supply shortages. One thing for sure, we still need the small Kirana stores for sure, even when we have the big brands.

[luvDriving]

I live in Pune and regularly buy (even before the coronavirus invasion) from the same local grocery store. Hence there was no major change after the lockdown announcement and restrictions.

The only change has been in the frequency. Earlier we used to venture out for every small thing and now I go out twice a week for milk and other essentials. In the first week of lockdown the grocery store was facing issues getting supplies and hence almost the entire store was emptied but since the last ten days things are better and he has restocked on all items.

Fresh vegetable are not yet available nearby and those that are available are being sold 2x the normal rate. On Sundays there is a long queue for the purchase of chicken and mutton but people are maintaining social distancing in all shops and wearing masks. So that's a relief.

I tried BB and Grofers but both failed miserably. For the first two weeks BB showed no service in your area and since then it has been showing no slots available. Grofers has been showing the same not operational message since the start of lockdown.

[warrioraks]

Originally Posted by akshaymahajan

Big Basket seems to be recovering now after the initial days of the lockdown. Placed an order on Sunday evening and it was delivered Monday evening. Finding a slot is tricky and you do need to keep looking for it every now and then though.

I order from Bigbasket in Gurgaon and Delhi. Recently they have been providing slots only for the next day and once full, they do not take any more orders.
Noticed a trend around availability of slots - for Delhi, they open up the slots around midnight and for Gurgaon, it is around 12 noon of the preceding day. There might be a pattern in your city as well so see if you can spot it so that you don't have check for slots every now and then

[theexperthand]

Curd - Daily Ninja. We get egg and bread also from same guy, but not through daily ninja.

Veggies, fruits, pulses, groceries, snacks, etc. - Big Basket and Swiggy.

Meat - Swiggy and FreshtoHome.

The only pain point with big basket is that when we do the checkout, they remove items from basket depending on the availability and then will say if the slots are available or not. So, it becomes an exercise to make sure that your basket have all the items you need before you place the order.

Swiggy stores, no such pain points till now - if you manage to find items you need, you will get the delivery in 2 hours (most of the cases).

We used to be heavily dependent on a local Kirana store before the lockdown. Unfortunately, they do not do home delivery, so I have turned to shops which do online delivery through Swiggy for my purchase.

--Anoop

[karan0009]

I am using Milkbasket & BB Daily here in Gurgaon & have not faced any challenge so far. All the orders are delivered at the doorstep within 24 hours maximum.

[Amit_breakfree]

Hyderabad - especially Kondapur area seems to be doing well in this case. I have not gone to a supermarket in a month and we have been completely dependent on mom and pop stores around us and they have done an amazing job. I have not faced any shortage yet and I hope the same continues.

1 thing which I am consciously doing is going to the small shops in the bylanes. My house is bang on the main road and there are a few shops but they keep running out of supplies because everyone stops there. However, if I go in the opposite direction (inside the locality) then there are many small shops which only the people staying around know and they have everything what we need. These places also not run out of stock quickly and are also delivering stuff to home. So win-win situation for all. Maybe you guys can use this trick as well.

[HammerHead]

Here in Pune, at least where I stay, DMart store is operational. They have token system and follow norms prescribed by the govt. They have everything in stock and for me it took 30 mins flat to buy stuff worth 11K which included baby supplies.

In case you don't want to visit the store, you may order stuff over DMart Ready APP. They charge delivery fees and getting delivery slot can be a challenge at times.

App based deliveries (FTH, BB Daily etc) were impacted for couple of days however they are operational since then. They deliver milk, eggs and stuff like butter, cheese, curd and paneer etc.

For fruits and vegetables, my society members arrange a vendor every week. Vendor either set's up his shop near our club house or provide what he calls 'Fruit & Vegetables' basket which basically has everything that you need for a week.

I felt its very well managed this side of the town.

[Rajat347]

Here in Pune (PCMC Area),

Local store in my society is well stocked. Big basket is delivering groceries but one has to be very tricky and vigilant because the delivery slots open at 9 PM and get full by 9:15 PM.
Got Kid's diapers from firstcry.com
Got chicken from Licious and Fresh to Home.
However, gone are the days when stores used to offer discounts on MRP and delivery is not allowed in the premises. He calls and then once to walk to society gate with bags and baggage

Overall, its livable and well organized.

[JithinR]

In Bengaluru, it seems the city leadership is trying to implement a home delivery system. I have seen these tweets for some days now asking shop owners to register by sending a message to a WhatsApp number.

I am not sure how we as consumers can place an order using this system though. Also, can any delivery system no matter how well planned actually handle the load of orders coming in?

Moreover, they seem to indicate that the system is put in place to make sure people don't have the "excuse" of daily essentials to come out. I am not sold on this idea yet.

https://twitter.com/BBMP_MAYOR/statu...095980545?s=19

[KiloAlpha]

I have been stepping out once a week to purchase groceries. Which means I have gone out of the house 3 times since the lockdown began. The local shops have everything we need. But, as many have said earlier, everything is not available in one single shop, but everything is available if one hunts for it, in the 3-4 kirana shops and small supermarkets nearby.

BigBasket - from whom we used to order about 3-4K worth essential grocery items like clockwork every month - has totally let us down. I don't see them delivering in our area at all.

Grofers, after an initial hiccup, is now almost back to normal.

Vegetables and fruits are readily available from vendors who get them in mini-trucks in front of our house every morning. Having said that, the fruit/vegetable shops near our house are also open and have adequate stock of everything.

Box8 has started delivering fruits/vegetables/bread/milk products in the place of meals. We ordered from them as well. Quality is a hit-or-miss.

[plato_]

Its pretty straightforward down here at my place. I step out once a week to gather the supplies. I am lucky enough that I can purchase everything needed from an hypermarket nearby.

For fresh meat and fish, we rely on local vendors.

All we have to do is make a list of things we need, go to the hypermarket and queue in. They only allow 5 people inside at a time after sanitizing hands. We can pass the list to a worker at the till and he/she will collect the item for us. This is a good idea because if there is any minute chance of the supplies being touched by anyone infected can be eliminated.

Of emergency medicines and such for kidney patients is a whole different story. The police/fire fighters themselves home deliver the medicines to your home in need.

There is a online pass system employed by which you can apply for a pass to go out for supplies. So that there is very little friction between the authorities and the people. Any unnecessary commutes can get you booked and the vehicle confisticated.