At the Safeway on Krameria Street in Montclair, Lexi Chamberlain was doing some grocery shopping while visiting her boyfriend Tuesday morning.
Chamberlain lives in Aurora but had to do her shopping in Denver. That's because after visiting three Safeways near her home, she left empty handed. The shelves at those stores there, she said, were pretty bare.
Grocery stores have been feeling the burden of supply chain shortages due to the pandemic. The bare shelves bring back March 2020 memories, when everyone was stocking up and preparing like they'd never leave their homes again.
Chamberlain said she believes the ongoing employee strike at King Soopers and shoppers avoiding the grocer could also be straining local food and goods supply.
"I live three minutes from a King Soopers, but I'm not going to shop there," Chamberlain said.
Other shoppers agree. The Montclair Safeway parking lot was packed on day seven of the strike, while across the street, the King Soopers parking lot was almost as bare as the produce shelves of its competitor.
"It's been crazy," said Jammi Smith, an Instacart worker shopping at the Montclair Safeway. "My sister works at Sam's Club and it's bare there as well. We've seen it at a few stores. Everyone is going elsewhere and everything is being taken off the shelves."
Smith said she hasn't noticed if online orders for King Soopers have decreased, but she won't be accepting them until the strike is over.
Katherine Curtis, another Instacart worker, agreed.
She was shopping at the Safeway on Quebec Street in Lowry and said she's noticed a decrease in King Soopers orders. But Curtis said she noticed bare shelves prior to the strike.
"The stores were pretty bare before but it does seem worse since the strike," Curtis said, adding that she won't be accepting King Soopers orders during the strike.
Striking workers say they appreciate the support.
Over the weekend, Carmen Montano, the floral manager of the Mar Lee King Soopers on Florida Avenue, stood outside in the cold equipped with a megaphone, as many area King Soopers workers have for days.
"No mas gasolina!" she shouted at a man trying to pump gas at the King Soopers.
Montano said the neighborhood and local businesses have been extremely supportive, and she urged shoppers to continue going elsewhere.
"Go to Safeway, Sprouts, Whole Foods, Target. There's so many other places to shop," Montano said.
Bernadette Hernandez, another King Soopers worker who was out picketing Saturday, said she understands people have needs, but she asked that people continue to hold the line.
"I'll drive you wherever you have to go," she shouted.
Marisa Powell, a Lowry Safeway shopper, said she's a King Soopers shopper but will continue to support workers. She believes the shelves will bulk up again once King Soopers workers get, as she put it, what "they deserve."
"They need to give them what they want," Powell said. "Most of us, especially in Denver, rely on King Soopers, so I feel like if they come to an agreement everything will go back to normal. I don't need another unnormal thing in my life."
It's unclear how grocery stores will continue handling the shortage and strike. Denverite reached out to Safeway to ask if the grocery chain has seen an increase in shoppers and what it planned to do about more demand at its stores. We didn't immediately receive a response before publication, but we'll update if we hear back.
Negotiations between UFCW Local 7 and King Soopers were set to continue on January 18.
