Gertrude Solkov dropped by her synagogue Monday to do some last-minute shopping for Passover.
"I need three presents," she told a clerk at the Temple Sinai gift shop in Dresher. "There's three kids, so I'm hiding three pieces of matzo this year. I don't want three kids crying for a prize."
The afikomen, an unleavened piece of bread or matzo, is traditionally hidden in the house during the Seder celebration for children to find in exchange for a prize.
Solkov passed by the kosher nut chews and coconut macaroons and went straight for the Haggada books explaining the story behind Passover. She grabbed two books and a balloon emblazoned with the words "I found it" for her grandchildren.
Solkov wasn't the only one doing last-minute shopping. George Endrigian, owner of the Dresher Shop 'n Bag, said he went through three trailerloads of kosher-for-Passover goods on Tuesday.
"Basically we're running out of everything fast," Endrigian said.
"I'm making frantic calls to suppliers today, trying to get another delivery. The last four days' sales have been fantastic. . . . The store's been mobbed."
The Jewish holiday of Passover, which begins today and lasts for eight days, commemorates the flight of Jews from Egypt.
In remembrance of the unleavened bread eaten during the flight from slavery, Jews are forbidden to eat food that is leavened or contains grain. Depending on their practices, they will give up everything made of grain, including alcohol and oils containing corn, as well as products such as mouthwash and toothpaste that aren't made under the supervision of a rabbi to ensure that they don't come in contact with grains.
Endrigian stocks a whole aisle full of kosher items - canned vegetables, ice cream, chocolate cake mix, cereal, potato chips, soda, meat, even Bazooka bubble gum. But don't look for canned cranberry sauce.
"Cranberry sauce has done very good in past years, but this year no manufacturer made cranberry sauce," Endrigian said. "Every year something new comes in and something else goes out."
This year a new breakfast cereal that tastes like Cheerios sold out fast.
Endrigian said he starts buying for Passover and stocking shelves six to seven weeks ahead of time.
He'll go as far as New York for some items, such as his specially cut meats.
"We clear the shelves and then line them with paper and stock them," Endrigian said. "It's not just kosher, it's kosher for Passover."
Whatever Shop 'n Bag doesn't offer, nearby Temple Sinai tries to provide, said Rose Sovel, a clerk in the gift shop run by the synagogue's sisterhood.
Most people are shopping for the new Passover wines and fancy Seder plates with cups for horseradish, greens, haroseth, bitter herbs, shank bone and eggs, she said. The store also has Passover dish towels, baby bibs, aprons and toys.
"We've been busy constantly," Sovel said.
Marilyn Stock, one of the store's three chairwomen, said customers are excited about the wide selection of wines this year.
"There used to be only the heavy, sweet wines like the concord, but now there's Chateau Richons and chenin blancs and French colombards," Stock said.
"These are wines you'd drink all year round."
Other local synagogues also opened Passover stores or held bazaars to sell kosher foods and ceremonial items.
