NATCHEZ — On Wednesday, as power was sporadically restored across Natchez, many residents headed out for groceries as soon as the stores opened.

At Natchez Market on John R. Junkin Drive, customers began to trickle in around 10:30 a.m.

While the store was well stocked with non-perishables and some produce, fresh meat was scarce.

The store’s retail operations manager, Barry Loy, said nearly all of the store’s refrigerated beef, poultry and pork had to be thrown away.

Loy said since Natchez Markets operates five stores in the area the loss for them is a substantial one.

“It’s hard,” he said. “Pretty much of all the meat had to be disposed of.”

Loy said before the storm hit the store made efforts to freeze as much product as possible.

Any frozen products that went above 45 degrees were disposed of Loy said. And just as Loy’s customers began to filter in — the store lost power. A generator ran a few lights and cash registers.

Power was not restored at the store until after 4 p.m.

Loy said he was unsure when his stores could be restocked because much of his merchandise comes from Baton Rouge, which was also experiencing problems from Gustav.

Across town at Wal-Mart the parking lot was packed, and many of the shelves were bare.

Store manager, Lionel Stepter, said he people were waiting for the store to open on Wednesday morning.

Stepter also said much of the store’s meat and dairy products had to be thrown away.

To prevent sporadic outages, like the one at Natchez Market, Stepter said Wal-Mart was being run entirely by generator on Wednesday.

“Right now we’re playing it by ear,” he said.

Shopper Lydia Riley, who left New Orleans to escape Gustav, said she was not surprised by the packed aisles and long lines.

“You have to expect this,” she said. “Everybody needs groceries.”