Eggs have been a sold-out commodity at supermarkets across the city, and country, but they were plentiful at San Francisco’s Costco on Tuesday morning. Shoppers came prepared to make the most of the bounty — the likes of which they may not see again for a long time.
Eager customers showed up at the big-box store at 9 a.m. and dashed to the egg fridges. The shopping-cart-pushing cast included restaurant staff, fitness fanatics, and anyone else who’s had their breakfast dreams smashed at the sight of depleted stocks elsewhere.
“They told me we had to come here early in the morning,” said Valencia Salgado as she stacked three packs of 5-dozen eggs — 180 in total — into her cart. “They stock them in the morning and by the end of the day, they’re usually sold out.”
Salgado stocked up so she could cook scrambled eggs or mix them with cottage cheese for a protein-rich meal as part of her regular workout routine.
Contrary to the age-old saying, more than a few shoppers thought it was wise to put all of their eggs into one basket.
Roger Pincombe, of San Francisco, was buying two lots of 2-dozen eggs. He comes to Costco every three weeks to replenish because the prices are about three times cheaper than in other markets.
“I’ve got a family at home, so we go through a lot of eggs,” he told The Standard.
As the store opened, customers could purchase unlimited eggs. The Standard saw one woman load 14 cases of the five-dozen cartons into her cart.
The refrigerators where the kitchen staples were kept were the scene of a persistent shopping cart traffic jam as egg-centric shopping continued through the morning.
Customers swarmed around the medium free-range eggs 18-count (USDA grade A) for $6.29 a pack, the organic large pasture-raised 2-dozen packs for $8.69, and the Kirkland-signature cage-free large eggs 2-dozen packs for $7.69.
Shoppers said that it’s been difficult to get eggs at other supermarkets as deadly bird flu has wreaked havoc on poultry farms.
The Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service confirmed highly pathogenic avian flu in a commercial flock for the first time on Feb. 8, 2022, almost exactly three years ago this week. According to government data, as of Monday, there have been 4 affected commercial flocks and 2 affected backyard flocks in California, and a total of 387,710 birds were affected in this outbreak.
“It was hard to get eggs at Safeway,” said Daniel Talton, a city resident and cook at Lord Stanley on Polk Street. He paused with his brother Bubba to collect themselves after yoking a personal supply.
A woman buying for Carmelina’s Cafe in the Mission, who declined to give a name, said she saved a lot of money for the restaurant by purchasing eight cartons of 5-dozen at $17.99. That comes to $143.92 at Costco compared to approximately $300 from her usual source, she said. The stash would last for about two weeks at the cafe, she said.
“The prices of everything have been going up. Wildly for eggs,” she said.
It wasn’t long before the store informed shoppers of a cap on the number of containers they could buy: “Due to a limited supply, please limit to 3.”
A manager who is not being named because they were not permitted to talk with reporters told The Standard that Tuesday was the first day the store had imposed a limit. The order came down from the Northern California regional office in Livermore, according to the manager. Costco did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.
“Customers were getting dissatisfied because we would run out of eggs by noon,” the manager said. “It’s been happening for a while and if it was up to us, we probably would have done it sooner.”