Costco, Target, Sam’s Club in Las Vegas limiting some purchases

Costco and Target stores in the Las Vegas Valley are putting a limit on water and other items as customers stock up in the face of the coronavirus scare.

Jason Specht, a front end manager at the Costco store at 6555 N. Decatur Blvd., said they are limiting these items to two per member per day:

— All water

— Antibacterial cleaners

— Hand sanitizers

— Toilet paper

— Paper towels

Specht said they are out of toilet paper, hand sanitizers and and paper towels on Monday.

People are buying more canned goods and rice, he added.

Lines that wrap around the building are not deterring people from coming to the stores.

Several people at the store said they saw on Facebook it was hard to get water so they are getting water because grocery stores are empty. Some said they read that it’s hard to get water so they are getting as much as they can now for convenience.

Employees at the store at 222 S. Martin Luther King Blvd. were telling customers they were limited to two cases of bottled water per shopping cart.

That store is a business center warehouse and is open to those with regular Costco memberships.

The Costco store at 3412 St. Rose Parkway in Henderson has limited the following items to two per customer:

— All cases of spring and distilled water

— Toilet paper

— Diapers

— Baby wipes

— Laundry and dish detergent

— Lysol spray

— Clorox/disinfectant wipes

— Clorox bleach

— Depends

— Rubber/disposal gloves

— Soft soap

Cashier assistant Kalle Orr said the store was out of toilet paper, paper towels and napkins Monday morning.

Costco customers were seen stocking up on bottled water and toilet paper at other store locations last week, causing some to temporarily run out of supplies.

“Everybody else is doing it so I wanted to make sure we had enough water in case supply runs low,” Rania Saedi of Henderson said on Monday. “And because of the coronavirus scare.”

Mike and Kathy Dragisic of Las Vegas said buying two cases of water is normal for them. They said they use bottled water for everything and will likely go through the allotted two cases of water in four days.

Sam’s Club on Serene Avenue at 1910 E. Serene Ave. in Las Vegas was out of several items including bottled water, toilet paper, paper towels, tissues, disinfectant wipes, hand sanitizer, certain canned food items (such as tuna, chicken breasts, beans), dried mashed potatoes and quick oats.

Some items were in low supply: diapers, baby wipes, hand soap, rice, Gatorade, paper plates, plastic cups and utensils, garbage bags and laundry detergent.

Bottled water and paper products were being limited for two to five cases/packages per person depending on brands. Most name brands were limited to five per person. Member’s Mark brand was limited to two per person. All canned meat was being limited to two per person.

A worker said that Sam’s Club location was temporarily out of gas. He said they have not received any deliveries in two days, which was not normal. He was uncertain if it had anything to do with coronavirus.

A Target spokeswoman Danielle Schumann said their stores added some product quantity limitations over the weekend.

Signs in the stores say: “Due to high demand and to support all guests, we will be limiting the quantities of disinfectant wipes, hand sanitizers and hand & face wipes to 6 per guest.”

Many people have been stocking up on bottled water, toilet paper, cleaning supplies and other items with the reports of coronavirus.

In Northern Nevada, at the Washoe County Health District’s now-daily press briefing on COVID-19, county health officer Kevin Dick said Monday there was no need for people to be hoarding water and other consumables because the possible spread of the virus did not threaten the food and water supply as an earthquake might.

“If we have COVID-19 cases, that’s not the same type of an emergency situation,” he said. “I don’t see any immediate disruption to our food supply system that’s coming our way.”

He said shoppers could opt to add a few more items each time they shop rather than “trying to clean out the shelves to fill your basement with food supplies.”

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

A previous version of this story stated incorrectly who may shop at the Costco business center. The store is only open to those with Costco memberships.