The reason for the early sales has less to do with retailers aligning with the Jewish faith and more with a case of "mistiming." In the United States, operations are guided by the Gregorian calendar, where most non-Jewish holidays occur on fixed dates that repeat annually. When one holiday ends, grocery stores stock up for the next one on the list.
For instance, as the unsold Easter chocolate eggs are cleared, matzah arrives on the shelves, regardless of whether it's too early to purchase them or not.
Leap years, like this one, are a concept most retailers have never heard of. Hence, Shani Seidman, the chief marketing officer of Kayco, the largest distributor of kosher food in America, found her phone ringing nonstop. "Supermarkets are calling me, worried and wondering why the products aren't selling,” she says.
Our local supermarket is always in contact with our Vaad HaKashrus and, like magic, all the Pesach displays appear the day before Purim.
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