Computer glitch closes Price Chopper

PCs shutdown Price Chopper

A trip to the grocery store was interrupted for Granville shoppers Sunday as a computer glitch closed the Price Chopper supermarket for nearly six hours.

Store manager Greg Osinski said a “computer problem” that began about 1 p.m. sidelined all of the registers at the checkout counters in the store.

Osinski said he did not know enough about computers to be more specific in describing the problem, but it required a technician from the home office to fix.

The last register was back up and running about 7 p.m., he said. “There was just no way we could do anything at the front of the store,” he said.

The problem left the Price Chopper with little to do but close the doors and wait; there is no backup system and no manual method of cashing customers out.

“In the old days sometimes you could do something, but not anymore,” he said. The checkout system is tied to the inventory for automatic ordering and there is no provision for selling food unless the store’s computers are up and running, he said. 

Shaking his head, Osinski said, “Computers are great … when they’re working.” Employees were kept on hand because the manager did not know how long it might take to get the problem fixed.

“You can’t let everybody go home, because, what if it’s fixed in 10 minutes, then you’ve got no one to run the store,” Osinski said.

Although he was not at the store at the time, Osinski said, he received a call at home informing him of the problem and the fix.

The company computer help desk was not able to help, but the problem was isolated to the Granville store and a technician was dispatched.

The technician was able to diagnose the problem, but then had to go register by register to reset them all and get them back up and running. Osinski said the store reopened one check stand at a time until the system was fully functional at about 7 p.m.

“We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience,” Osinski said.

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Tags: Doors, Grocery Store, Hellip, Osinski, Price Chopper, Provision, Registers, Shoppers, Six Hours, Supermarket