The Worst Time of Day To Go to the Grocery Store

Popping into the grocery store to grab a few essentials isn’t always the quick and easy chore people hope it will be. Sometimes you walk in to find the shelves have been picked bare, and you’re forced to return another day. Other times they have what you need in stock, but the checkout line is longer than the queue for the most popular ride at Disneyland.

The surest way to avoid these issues is to do your grocery shopping at times when shelves are probably stocked and crowds are likely to be small. What makes things a bit tricky is those times don’t necessarily overlap, so you may end up dealing with low inventory but short lines. Let’s look at the worst time of day to shop, depending on your priority.

The Worst and Best Times for Good Grocery Selection

It’s best to shop at the grocery store earlier in the day if you’re looking for a plentiful selection, as the shelves are more likely to be picked over as the day goes on. While supermarkets might restock certain items throughout the day, larger restocks are typically done after stores close or before they open, when there are no customers. So if you’re hoping for fully-stocked shelves, try to go in the morning as close to when the store opens as possible.

The day of the week matters, too. Many grocery stores do larger restocks midweek in anticipation of weekend traffic. The exact day may vary from store to store, so it’s worth doing a little recon at your local supermarket to see when shelves are fully stocked. (You can also ask employees directly.) You may find that there’s more inventory on a Tuesday or Wednesday morning, making them better days for shopping than a Sunday or Monday after the weekend rush.

One final thing to consider is when grocery stores start advertising their new products and sales. Typically, supermarkets begin new sales periods on Wednesdays, making that  a good day to shop for discounted inventory — though crowds may be bigger since people will be coming to take advantage of those deals.

All this is to say that if you’re looking for a good selection, going shopping first thing Wednesday morning may be the best time. Late on Sunday, on the other hand, is one of several comparably worse times.

The Worst and Best Times for Small Crowds

Studies have shown that 59% of shoppers go to the supermarket on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, making the weekend an especially bad time to shop if you’re hoping to avoid big crowds. Furthermore, according to statistics from the USDA released in 2019, the peak time to shop on weekends was from 11 a.m. to 12:59 p.m. The same time period was also busy on weekdays, as was 3 p.m. to 3:59 p.m. — around the time people with earlier shifts (such as teachers) may get out of work and start to shop for the evening ahead.

In addition to avoiding weekends and midday shopping, you need to be aware of major events that may be happening. For instance, if there’s a big sporting event like the Super Bowl or a golf tournament, people may be doing some last-minute shopping in the hours leading up to it. The same may hold true around a holiday, with people grabbing final groceries hours before Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and so on. And if you live in a churchgoing community, you may want to avoid the midday Sunday rush, when churchgoers are shopping after services.

Whether you’re prioritizing stocked shelves or small crowds, it seems that your best bet is to head to the grocery store earlier in the morning, during the middle of the week, and on days when there are no major local or national events. This isn’t always possible, of course, but it’s the surest way to avoid a stressful supermarket experience.

_{Featured Image Credit: © Ivan Pantic—E+/Getty Images}