My Sixth Sense
Businesses and consumers recover after Passover
By Menachem Lubinsky...It's the day after Passover and kosher establishments all over the world (outside of Israel, where the holiday ended a day earlier) are in the process of making the transition back to the year-round mode. Shelves covered with paper or plastic are once again exposing cereals, pastas and other chametz items. Trucks with non-Passover goods are arriving ever so slowly. It's time to move on. It's too early to have a final account of just how well retail sales fared over the holiday, although as I visited stores in New York, New Jersey and Miami, the vibes were really good. Most retailers expected increases of 5%-15% and there were those who predicted a mere copy of last year. Ironically they seemed happy as well, given all the added competition. Many of the retailers nervously watched inventory, hoping that they would not be stuck with much product once Pesach ended. One South Florida retailer, when told that there were no more Passover olive oil bottles on the shelf, said "good." His fear was amplified by others who always consider items that are marked Kosher for Passover as stale the day after.
Some of the new items flew off the shelves, such as products like croutons, noodles, pizza bagels, flavored teas – all once considered forbidden fruits that were somehow made kosher for the holiday. The spot shortages of Passover items were widespread throughout the nation. Matzoh was in short supply in some markets and stockpiled in others. The same was true for the coveted Passover Coke, almost non-existent in some stores in Brooklyn and Los Angeles, but in ample supply in South Florida, including in several Walgreen's stores that sported signs reading: "We have Kosher for Passover Coke." Some gentiles looked for the distinctive yellow caps because Passover Coke is made with sugar and in their opinion is better. In South Florida, Israeli products including Matzoh were prominently displayed, some in strategically-placed end caps. You could see the stress on the faces of shoppers as they completely restocked shelves and refrigerators with Passover items. Some were shaking their heads at high prices that really had nothing to do with kosher, such as with eggs. Others were asking about kosher certifications, something they do not do as frequently all year. The discussion amongst shoppers turned to the shortage of stick margarine even though tubs and larger sizes were available. And then of course there were the illusive Tam Tams which, while not available for Passover, looked so good as the retailers peeled away the covered shelves. But there was no respite in retail-land as food executives already looked ahead to Passover 2009! So, will there be margarine next year?
