With poll: Ann Arbor area shoppers hit grocery stores to stock up before this week's predicted storm

Besides water, the city Website specifies medical items, tools, clothing, and the following food items on its emergency list:

• Ready to eat canned meats, fruits and vegetables. • Smoked or dried meats such as beef jerky. • Juices - canned, powdered or crystallized. • Soups - bouillon cubes or dried "soups in a cup." • Milk - powdered or canned. • Staples - sugar, salt, pepper. • High energy foods - peanut butter, jelly, crackers, nuts, health food bars, trail mix. • Stress foods - sugar cookies, hard candy, sweetened cereals. • Vitamins.

Are these the items stores are running light on? Not exactly.

“Bread, cheese, and wine” seem to be leaving the shelves at faster than expected quantities said crew member Jeff Duby at Trader Joe’s on West Stadium.

“We’ve been super busy for a Monday, and all of the talk is about the storm,” he said. Duby says that people seem to be preparing to hunker down.

Both Whole Foods in Cranbrook, and Busch’s on South Main Street also report a heavy pick up in traffic today.

Will it get better? Not anytime soon. Susan Bellinson of Whole Foods reports that things should be even busier tomorrow.

Steven Brooks, store director at Hiller’s Market on Washtenaw Avenue, estimates that traffic at the store was up about 30-40 percent compared to a normal Monday.

Though the aisles were crowded, Brooks says that additional staff has been scheduled for busy times this week, and that his deliveries for Tuesday morning are expected to be on time.

Reports of milk being out and shelves being bare are adding to the mayhem. But one shopper was able to put a positive spin on it: “That is one way to stimulate the economy!”

Angela Smith is a shopping contributor for AnnArbor.com, and is already fearing that she should have bought more bread during her weekend grocery trip.