Online grocery shopping has been around for a while but I haven’t paid much attention. I have lots of time and tend to impulse-shop. But as I look for ways to avoid unnecessary exposure to crowds, I decided to give it a try.

Gerbes Supermarket (a Kroger brand) is about ten minutes from my house. You can shop via desktop browser or from a mobile app and they’ll deliver ($10) or you can schedule a time to pick up your order ($5). Looks like they’ll ship an order but I’m not sure that’s available locally.

I downloaded the iOS app and started shopping. Not the greatest UI I’ve ever seen but not bad. I found it a little confusing when updating my order but that might have been my lack of familiarity. I chose a pick-up window and they texted me reminders as well as notifications when one of the products I selected was out of stock.

Our local store has three pick-up “stalls” (parking slots) with a phone number to let them know you’re waiting. A nice lady came out with my groceries and a list showing an item that was unavailable as well as a substitution (If I didn’t like it they’d take it back and adjust my credit card charge).

This seemed like a pretty good deal for five bucks. There will be times when I want to roam the aisles but for now, I’ll avoid the masses.