Scavenging for supplies

[Dropy]

Farms, fish farms, places that sell plants cuz many sell fruit and nut trees also.

Campgrounds could surprise you for what can be found there.

Dairy Queen cuz i like ice cream and will need a soft serve machine in the BOL.

Dentists office, eye doctor places, massage parlors (hope for happy ending),

Anyplace selling motorcycles, atv's/4 wheelers, boats and campers are great for fuel, parts and maybe vehicles. Camper spots also tend to sell outdoor gear like composting toilettes and stuff.

Bookstores.

[The Stig]

A lot of good ones covered.

Truckstops: if any trucks have been abandoned there might be useful items in the trailers. Fuel in the tanks, etc.

[bacpacker]

Along those lines, rest stops on the interstate. Lots of trucks may be there, espically the ones that get a lot of heavy use.

[Dropy]

My company has 2 tanks outside for refueling shop and yard equipment. 1 is gas and 1 diesel. They are like 500 or 1000 gallon tanks. not sure to be exact.

Welding companies/shops for tools, welder/generators, gases, materials to fortify/build.

Trucking places where goods are delivered then transferred to other trucks....forget what ya call these. We got a small one in our town.

Laundry mat places for chemicals, clothes, blankets sheets etc.

Dont forget to pick up some fire extinguishers. We got a Safety store here with lots of PPE gear and such due to the oilfield here.

Also oil drilling rigs have LOTS of stuff useful by em.

[LUNCHBOX]

I would not feel right about taking items from here due to who they were used for but daycares and schools but in a way it would still be for kids. Both have dry goods on hand and a select amount of meats (probably bad by the time you get to them) If you have one near you? Airports have a large supply of foodstuffs on hand for flights and individuals.

[Stormfeather]

Theres several options that Ive seen recommended here that I fully agree with. Heres my top 3

1) railways, there's always going to be railways with stopped trains on them. From talking with friends that work on the railways, they will usually cut bait and leave the boxcars in place in case of disaster.
2) Farm & Fleet. . . There's always tons of good supplies there, and since there usually isnt a lot of food carried in them, they will more than likely be overlooked in the initial looting spree.
3) Campgrounds. Propane, trailers, firewood, hunting/camping supplies, need I say more?

[Grumpy Old Man]

Well, I see that everyone has put on their thinking caps and come up with the expected good ideas. I'll throw out a couple that I've considered. Ready-mix concrete plants for fuel and chemicals, asphalt hot-mix plants for fuel, chemicals and propane,equipment yards for lubricants, fuel and tools and feed stores for just about everything.

[JustAPrepper]

School cafeterias and major employers with cafeterias come to mind. Also, I don't know if they still do it, but back in the day schools and major employers had nurses stations and sick bays with basic medical supplies.

[Gunfixr]

Back in our day maybe, but now the school nurse takes their temps, has them lay down a bit, and if that doesn't fix it, parents get a call to come get them.

Around here there's lots of rail, but pretty much all coal. Not useless, but inedible.

I don't know about everywhere, but over the past year or so, all the stores have backed way off on the amount of food on the shelves. Lots of spaces empty regularly, and never filled anywhere near capacity any more. More supplies come every day. The shelves are cleaned hard every month at the beginning of the month, and somewhat hard on any payday weekend.
Those trucks stop coming, it'd only be a few days for the shelves to be picked clean. After that, it'd be every man for themselves, and it wouldn't be long before groups would take to the streets, taking whatever they are strong enough to take.
Probably the one good thing about the city is that while most are armed, it's mostly handguns, and for many, their idea of marksmanship is to stick the gun out at arms length sideways and blast away. Plus, city folks don't tend to stock up on ammo too much. Around here, 100rds is considered enough to start a war. It would be brutal, but fairly short-lived.
Of course, most around here don't even see a lot of what is actually a food source, so once the shelves are cleaned, and they've raided whatever businesses they can think of and houses they can, most will just it down and die, probably next to something edible.
Which will then be left behind, for folks like us.

[bacpacker]

Not so much for food, but some good spots for tools and supplies. Construction sites both commercial and residential, auto dealerships, farm equipment dealerships, & sawmills.