Business & Tech

Twinkie Rush Leaves Some Empty-handed While Others Walk Off with Armloads

People waited at Jewel stores in Elmhurst for hours to get their hands on the golden treat.

A bake sale of epic proportions is taking place online now that Hostess has delivered what it says is absolutely the final shipment of Twinkies.

Shoppers all over the Chicago area want to get in on the gold rush. The price for a box on popular auction websites has fluctuated, from about $10 to tens of thousands of dollars. As of Tuesday night, they were selling on Amazon.com for as high as $52.95 a box. Last month, they were going for $200,000 on eBay.

Making money was on the minds of many of the 50-plus people who swarmed the Jewel-Osco on Butterfield Road in Elmhurst Tuesday night. But the staff seemed ill-prepared for the grabby mob.

Managers at both Elmhurst Jewel locations had said by phone Tuesday afternoon that trucks would be delivering the final shipment between 2 and 8 p.m., that customers would be allowed only two boxes per family, and that it would be first-come, first-served.

But after the truck arrived at about 8:30 p.m., the situation became chaotic at the south-Elmhurst Jewel. While a group of customers, some who had been there for hours, were told to wait at the front of the store near the packaged baked goods, an employee was handing them out randomly at the back of the store, near the meat department. Those lucky enough to be at the back of the store were grabbing them up by the armloads.

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By the time those at the front of the store realized what was happening and ran—literally—to the back of the store, most of the Twinkies were gone. Angry customers yelled at the employee handing them out.

"I've been waiting here since 5 o'clock," one man yelled. "You told us to wait at the front of the store!"

And no one seemed to know or care about the two-per-family rule. Some customers with a cart-load of Twinkies were still grabbing more.

One man, who would identify himself only as Frank, carried his five boxes through the checkout line.

"I had a lot more but some evil woman (got them)," he said.

He had returned to the store twice Tuesday evening to see if the truck had arrived. On his last visit, at a little before 6 p.m., he decided to wait it out.

"I've been here since five to 6, so I am not giving these up," he said.

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