12/14/98 ATTENTION, SHOPPERS: THE WORLD IS ABOUT TO CLOSE

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ATTENTION, SHOPPERS: THE WORLD IS ABOUT TO CLOSE

Computer services and software companies aren't the only ones enjoying a Year 2000 boom. Across the economy, nervous consumers--some motivated by fears of an apocalypse--are stocking up on grains and starting to cause shortages of generators, canning supplies, and even army surplus rations.
Jan B., a Dallas-area housewife who doesn't want to give her last name, has organized 50 families to purchase 80,000 pounds of wheat, corn, soybeans, and rice. She and her friends believe millennium-related problems will herald social chaos. ''This kind of trauma is inevitable,'' says Jan. ''We will begin to trickle into an era of disruption.''
FRETTING FED. People like Jan are beating a path to Boyce Feed & Grain in Waxahachie, Tex. The company has been fielding several calls a week from folks looking to buy thousands of pounds of grain. Owner Dennis Horak says Boyce turns away many such calls, but he agreed to sell to Jan B. The callers ''are kind of freaking out,'' he says. ''They think the world's gonna shut down come 2000.''
It's not just individuals worried about millennium chaos. The Federal Reserve plans to order $50 billion in extra money for the turn of the century. Alliant Energy Corp., an electric utility, is encouraging corporate customers to buy generators. The U.S. Treasury plans to buy a few generators to prevent disruption in Social Security, tax-refund, and veterans' checks.
Meanwhile, some companies are courting the Y2K hoarders. Idaho-based Walton Feed Inc. markets via an informal Y2K media network, including radio talk shows and Web sites. The Christian Broadcast Network runs a Y2K Web site, which advises viewers to first ''seek God's wisdom''--and then to take an inventory of the family pantry, since ''it's impossible to know with certainty how long the crisis will last.'' CBN also offers a link to Walton, which is doing so much business that an order placed now will not be shipped before July, 1999.
For folks who can't wait, Barbara Guame in Stephenille, Tex., has launched her own home-based business, selling six-pound bags of wheat. ''It makes a lot of sense to be prepared,'' she says. ''Given that, we started thinking, what kind of Y2K cottage industry could we do?''
Meanwhile, Jan B. gets together with friends to unload grain into five-gallon drums and set aside stocks of sugar, salt, and seeds for the garden. ''There will be significant change in our lives,'' she says. ''It will impact our food supply, our fuel, our electricity, our phones, our whole economy...everything, even trash pickup. It's gonna be gross.'' But at least she won't lack for bread.
By Hilary Hylton in Austin, Tex.

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