Signs to Watch For

I own a small grocery store. I have been prepping for a number of years. I am wondering though, what signs should I look for to tell me it is time to pack all the food from my store in the back of a truck and take it home to stay? I have the plan, just not sure what the trigger should be. Does anyone have any thoughts on what to be watching for?

 

There is no universal answer to this. A lot depends on where you are, and what you primarily prepare for. Hurricane area? I'd clean out and move inland for a CAT 5 storm. TEOTWAWKI, It would be too late once you found out. Biden being elected President, I'd have some shipping boxes on standby.....
Seriously though, everyone has their own idea of what will signify the time to get outta Dodge. Personally I weather out most storms and fight the feelings to go more often than I like lately, but when troops take to the streets I'm gone to my alternate living facility.

 

I would say, when the folks start lining up outside your doors, it's prolly too late! I would be watching for folks you have never seen before, license plates from other states, and such as a sort of sign that it's time! No real hard and fast answer here, gut feelings will tell you when!

 

About the time people start eating the paint and woodchips off the front door may be a tad late?
No delivery trucks of food? You're about to be bum rushed in a day or so?

 

I think it might be better if you'd already been rotating supplies to your home and have a normal stock that you can deplete at the store. This would allow you to slowly sell-out and leave the place empty without people knowing that you'd taken a load home.
Makes looting and break-ins after you close less likely. You'll know when it's time to stay home.

 

Thought a lot about this, a big topic that causes arguments in my group and family. For me its when the police stop going to work

 

before you close the doors and haul off the store >>> might want to have an armed guard or two in mind - limit access to a couple of people at a time - accept only silver/gold or trade items instead of US greenbucks and definitely no credit cards/debit or checks - put limits on your usual weekly/daily delivered food ...

if you still have food - try to close early with customers waiting >>> wish you luck with the resulting riot - if you see the need the customers will also and be desperate ...

 

Everywhere is different, need to know way more.

 

This would be a great topic of the month for april. Signs that the poop is about to hit the fan.

 

It seems you would already have the inside scoop on this ,, you will be one of the 1st ones to know,, when your supply deliveries start getting harder to get. I would be doing exactly as Hot Diggity said above. You will be getting a lot of the hints from your deliveries , your stock , and watch people ,, look in their eyes , their actions and moods .
Then let us know so we can bug out as well.

 

@Jaybird , keep your inventory mobile and stock the minimum on the shelves. That way if you have to bolt the most you can lose is what's on the shelves. If your store is big enough to have a loading dock I'd keep the essential get the hell out of Dodge inventory stored in a truck that's ready to go. Keep the truck backed up to the doors so the trailer can't be accessed with the doors closed.

 

Really good posts , above BUT IF YOU DON'T HAVE A MASK
this hoax won't work

 

Their is very little backstock at the store. I try to keep it all on the shelves. I have been keeping boxes for several months now. My thought is, when I see it is time, I will load what I can in boxes and put them on the back of the pickup. (I did say it was a small store) By the time most realize things have gone bad, one indicator will be that my store is not open. I will be at home with extra supplies. Security may be an issue. I had not given that a lot of thought. Not many of my customers know where I live. I do like the idea of having a "shutting down" sale with one or two customers allowed in and only taking gold/silver or goods for payment. I now have more to think about. Thank you all.

 

Asking what signs to look for means you are not keeping up on current events. You need to get more education and decide how to best focus your time and energy. If you are waiting for an emergency, like natural disaster, to happen then you will know when it happens. It may be too late at that point but the worst plan today is better than the best plan tomorrow. Decide ahead of time what are the likely scenarios (hurricane, flooding, earthquake, etc) and make the best preps you can for those events.

If you are waiting for Nazi's to march in then you are missing it. It's happening right now. They don't look the same. Instead of 'krystallnacht' we had 'the summer of love'. Instead of wearing the star of David, they are 'not wearing masks' or 'conspiracy theorists' or white. Instead of Hitler we have a puppet for the secret cabal of people who really make the decisions. You see, they learned their lessons and got rid of the public target.

If you are waiting for war then you are probably going to see it within a year. It seems obvious that China and even our own government are trying to get people to fight. They are already evenly divided and incensed by everything.

You may want to expand on your plan because packing and going home doesn't sound long term. If we have war for the next 10 years you may find that you needed a part 2 to your plan. Everyone's plan should be something they can, and probably do, do on a daily basis. Permanent change is hard but VERY rewarding if you can bring yourself to do it. Change your life style to be where you want to be. Don't just get by but decide to thrive in any situation.

 

Off-hand. I would say when your wholesale costs rise to meet your present retail prices (and/or when locally grown produce suddenly becomes unavailable because it's all been sold from the fileds direct to your customers) it's time to close the business.

At the end of the last day, load the entire remaining stock into carts (if you have them) and then, around 11 PM, bum's-rush the carts into a utility trailer. Then you and your shot-gun-toting family members can just boogie on down the road.

 

Sound advice all around.
You mentioned security could be an issue, so address that right away. Being stocked won't matter if you can't keep it.
It's better to go early than late.
You sound like you'll do okay.

 

I think you can probably answer some of your own questions better than us >>> if you're an independent grocer you probably had supply problems last spring - hard time getting some things thru your regular wholesaler ...

that probably will happen again - but a whole lot faster roll if the SHTF is more obvious like a war or something Biden wants to be publicized thru the Fake News ....

 

There at it now , wait till the 3rd Vax stab is killing

 

BREAKING: Employment Standards Act Says You Can Now Be LAID OFF WITHOUT PAY FOR NOT BEING VACCINATED