New Yorkers preparing for Sunday’s devastating winter blast were met with long lines and empty store shelves as they ventured out to buy a few perishables during a brief calm before the storm.
Over at the Trader Joe’s on Spring St. near Varick St. in the West Village, a line of desperate shoppers wrapped around the entire store and snaked through the aisles leading toward the frozen food and meat aisles, which were nearly empty.
Not a single potato could be found and the pasta shelves were just about cleared out.
“We were just gonna buy some fruit. I certainly wasn’t expecting a line,” a stunned NYU professor, who would only identify himself as Vito, told the Daily News as he looked over the massive crowd. “I figured we just didn’t want to order any takeout because we don’t want people to trudge through the snow.”
Empty shelves are pictured at a Trader Joe’s on Spring St. near Varick St. in Manhattan on Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026. (Emma Seiwell / New York Daily News)
The massive hoarding, he said, was “probably an overreaction.”
“It’s gonna last for — what — two days?” he asked about the storm.
A Trader Joe’s employee was stunned by the massive crush of shoppers.
“There’s none of the frozen stuff,” he said, stunned. “If I seem stressed, it’s because I am.”
One shopper compared the lines at the TJ’s to the panic at the beginning of COVID.
“When COVID started you couldn’t get toilet paper. It’s kind of the same energy,” said the shopper, Lori, who has lived in SoHo since the 1980s.
Across the five boroughs, residents were emptying store shelves of perishables and other supplies they felt they needed for the next few days as anywhere between 8 and 14 inches of snow, followed by sleet and freezing rain, is expected to pound the city.
Shovels and snow melt were also in short supply. Over at a Lowe’s on Second Ave. in Gowanus, Brooklyn, two full pallets of snow melt were sold out within two hours, a store employee said.
“There’s no more,” the employee said. “At 7 a.m. a load came. In 30 minutes, it was sold out. We got another load at 9 a.m., but that was sold out, too.”
But longtime New Yorker Bob Peterson was taking the upcoming storm in stride.
Hunkered underneath a heavy hat, hood, warm winter coat and snow boots, he quietly rode a No. 5 train to Harlem on Saturday, happy he had already gotten his supplies.
“I did everything yesterday,” Peterson, 47, told The News as he enjoyed his ride through the city, looking forward to a meet-up with friends. “I went shopping yesterday. Did all that stuff yesterday. So, now I’m just waiting for the storm.”
Once the snow comes in, it’s expected to stay awhile as temperatures are expected to remain below freezing throughout the week.
“Frankly, it will be colder than any sustained period that New York has experienced in about eight years,” Mayor Mamdani said Saturday speaking at the Spring St. salt shed in the West Village, where scores of city Department of Sanitation salt spreaders were loading up.
“But New York, whatever comes for it, this city is ready,” the mayor said. “Over the past days, city workers have worked tirelessly to prepare our city for the snow and for the cold.”
A salt truck and snow plow is seen at a salt depot at Spring St. in downtown Manhattan following a news conference with Mayor Mamdani about preparations for the winter storm in New York on Jan. 24, 2026. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP via Getty Images)
According to the latest forecasts, snow was expected to begin falling around midnight Sunday and grow in intensity before dawn. The heaviest snow will come late Sunday morning and early afternoon, followed by sleet in the evening, Mamdani said.
“Visibility will be very low. Winds will be gushing at speeds of up to 35 miles per hour,” he said. “New Yorkers can expect white-out or near blizzard conditions.”
Mamdani recommended everyone wait out the storm at home.
“I urge every New Yorker who can, to put a warm sweater on, turn on the TV, watch ‘Mission Impossible’ for the 10th time, and, above all, to stay inside,” he said. “We are ready for this storm together — and together, New York, we are going to get through this.”
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks during a news conference at a salt depot about preparations for the winter storm in New York on Jan. 24, 2026. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP via Getty Images)
Ashley Conley, a manager at an Upper East Side gym, who was taking the No. 5 train to work from Astoria, said she hopes to heed Mamdani’s request on Sunday.
“If I didn’t have work, I definitely wouldn’t be leaving the house this weekend,” the 28-year-old said. “I don’t know anybody that is scared. I feel like everybody that doesn’t have to be out is probably staying inside.”
While most people plan to hunker down, the Great White Way is not afraid of the coming white stuff. The Broadway League said on Friday that “Broadway shows in New York City for the coming weekend are currently scheduled to perform as planned.”
If the storm gets worse, it will be up to the individual theaters to close, officials said. People planning to see a show but now hoping for a refund can “contact their point of purchase directly.”
A frozen food aisle is pictured almost bare at a Trader Joe’s on Spring St. near Varick St. in Manhattan on Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026. (Emma Seiwell / New York Daily News)
Carlos, 57, who was shopping for shovels at the Brooklyn Lowe’s, planned to settle in once he returned to his home in Staten Island.
“I saw (Mamdani) on the news. I guess I’ll watch ‘Mission Impossible,’” he joked. “This is his first true test in terms of him being newly elected mayor. Hopefully we’ll heed the warnings and make out good.”
While prepared, Peterson, a lifetime New Yorker, isn’t too worried about the white-out city officials are expecting.
“I’m going to go out and take pictures of the storm in New York City. New York city’s very beautiful in the winter,” he said. “We used to get these (storms) all the time in the early ’90s. I think New York city’s prepared. Listening to the news, they’re saying that they will be prepared for the storm.”
As the preparations continue, Peterson said he was thankful for his giant scarf he proudly wore across his neck.
“(It’s one) I usually see women wear, but I’m going to wear this because it can’t be gender-based today,” he joked. “It has to be warm-based today.”