"They affect the whole store. Everything gets backed up. Sometimes it's every single day someone is missing. There are a lot of sick calls. And sometimes they are gone forever," said Blackstone, who said he was prepared to hoist a picket sign again if it came to that.
Some shoppers said they had developed new shopping patterns during the strike and were still buying less at the chains than they had before the labor fight.
Venice resident and television producer Jonathan Frank, 31, said that he and his wife began buying higher-priced food at a Whole Foods in Brentwood after pickets appeared at his Albertsons in Santa Monica. Now, Frank said the couple still pays those higher prices because the more expensive Whole Foods selection is better for their health. And if the pickets return, he won't shop at Albertsons at all until they leave.
"I just didn't want the hassle of crossing a picket line," Frank said.
But computer technician Baltazar Ayala, 31, said prices would dictate his behavior. With a fifth child on the way, Ayala said he would chase bargains. "If I was a rich guy, I might drive 10 extra miles to go somewhere else and avoid a picket line," Ayala said. "I'm not rich."
ron.white@latimes.com
