Shopping in Sandpoint--a New Experience! (Ponderay, Clark Fork: vacation home, construction, contractors)

[Clark Fork Fantast]

So now we're back at our retirement/vacation home in Clark Fork, hoping to catch up with our delayed construction schedule after the none-year of 2020. We were looking forward to hitting North 40, the Coop, Home Depot, etc., for tools and supplies--but to our dismay we've encountered virtually empty shelves! WalMart looks like a disaster zone. The simplest items such as curtain rods are simple gone. A manager explained that they weren't able to restock after a huge influx of new customers early in the summer, and in another store--a furniture store--the manager told us that they can sell every item they have, but they can't keep up with the deliveries to the new customers! And all contractors and home repair people are booked until September.

So the influx of new residents in Sandpoint is very real and tangible, and I assume the same is the case in CdA. According to the store managers the new residents are mainly from WA. I can't blame the hopeful newcomers, of course--they are trying to escape unacceptable conditions. Which has been predicted since the beginning of 2021. But the stores have apparently been taken by surprise.

So a lesson for those of you who are coming up/over to your new digs in Bonner Ct this summer: bring your own essential tools and other items! Or wait until the fall to support the local economy...

[volosong]

I don't normally shop at the Home Depot in CdA, instead of preferring Lowe's because of the 10% military discount. Haven't really noticed a lack of inventory there. But, I've only had to go in a few times since winter.


Food stores, (Fred Meyers), and Costco seem well stocked.

[oldafretired]

If you're going to be in Clark Fork for awhile, you can oder stuff online and it shows up pretty quickly most of the time. I hate driving into CDA so I usually get stuff other than groceries online.

Hope you can find what you need and get things done. Glad you were able to make it up here.

Hey, did you bring the heat with you? Hope it starts to cool off a bit.

[cleosmom]

It's practically the same everywhere right now. They're also blaming the lack of supplies to all things Covid...

[Hemlock140]

Add to the influx the shortage of truckers, and backups at the ports. Most of those missing items come from China, and have to go through the port in Seattle, and onto trucks or trains to get to you. Up and down the west coast there are container ships waiting offshore to unload.

https://www.king5.com/article/news/l...b-ec6c487de2b7

[movintime]

Originally Posted by cleosmom

It's practically the same everywhere right now. They're also blaming the lack of supplies to all things Covid...

yeah, the 'planned-demic' still getting ink these days!

[banjomike]

Non-year 2020... a good description, CFF!

I increasingly find myself thinking something happened 2 years ago when it was actually 3. everyone I know is doing the same.

[Clark Fork Fantast]

Thanks for input, everybody! We're trying to get IKEA items shipped to us here--but they're out of stock! I guess we humans have been "released" from our COVID prisons sooner than the tools we need! We'll just make do with what we've got, in most cases, and save our "finish the house" ambitions for next year. It's lovely to be back--I'd almost lost faith that it would ever happen. So whatever we can get done this summer is just a bonus.

PS No, we didn't bring the heat-- when we left San Diego it was 75 F, and that's what it's been ever since! But wait until September. That's when the 3 digit temps hit...

[DvrGrl]

Originally Posted by volosong

I don't normally shop at the Home Depot in CdA, instead of preferring Lowe's because of the 10% military discount. Haven't really noticed a lack of inventory there. But, I've only had to go in a few times since winter.


Food stores, (Fred Meyers), and Costco seem well stocked.

I shop at the Home Depot in Sandpoint/Ponderay because they give me my military discount without me having to register in their system as a vet—I just show my ID card. I’m sure Lowe’s and HD both are already tracking my spending, it’s just the principal to me.

[nowhereman427]

So perhaps it's easier to order everything on-line as they intended it to be that way and shut down the local businesses due to the Covid 19 and trade wars going on?