As that anticipated winter storm approaches this weekend, shoppers looking for ice-melting materials may be running out of time as supplies dwindle amid high demand nationwide.<\/p>\n
Local hardware stores report limited inventories of rock salt and other ice-melt products, a situation driven by widespread demand across the country.<\/p>\n
With heavy snow in the forecast, people are heading to the stores to get supplies.<\/p>\n
Still, at Killian Hardware in Chestnut Hill, owner Russell Goudy said his store is holding up for now.<\/p>\n
“We just got a big delivery this morning. We expect, though, that it’s probably going to sell out within the next day or two,” Goudy said.<\/p>\n
Goudy added that customers shopping for ice-melting materials may have better luck if they are flexible about their options.<\/p>\n
“We are trying to sell more pet-friendly ice melt, but they are getting harder to get now. You might have to revert to the old rock salt,” Goudy said.<\/p>\n
In Roxboro, the owner of Stanley’s Hardware said demand has been difficult to keep up with as winter weather preparations intensify. Owner Mark Jaconski said inventory has been disappearing almost as quickly as it arrives.<\/p>\n
“As quickly as we get pallets unloaded on the sidewalk, it leaves. In 15 minutes, a pallet is gone,” Jaconski said.<\/p>\n
The surge in demand extends beyond ice-melt products. Jaconski said shovels have been especially hard to keep in stock.<\/p>\n
“I started with probably 500 shovels in stock. I have replaced probably 500, and right now my racks are empty until tomorrow,” he said.<\/p>\n
Some customers expressed frustration, saying they were surprised to find limited supplies at neighborhood hardware stores.<\/p>\n
“I am so surprised, I thought they definitely had salt. I mean, they’re like a neighborhood hardware store. ‘Well, they did have salt.’ I know, I know,” said Sandy Hartwig of Roxborough.<\/p>\n
Ralph Pinkus of Mt. Airy said his own supply may not last through the coming storm.<\/p>\n
“I have one little bag left, and if there is a big snowstorm, I am out of luck,” Pinkus said.<\/p>\n
In response to the demand, Stanley’s Hardware has implemented a two-bag-per-customer limit and said it is hoping to receive additional inventory soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As that anticipated winter storm approaches this weekend, shoppers looking for ice-melting materials may be running out of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":421954,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[201374,23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":{"0":"post-421953","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-201374","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-united-states-of-america","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","15":"tag-us","16":"tag-usa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=421953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/421954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=421953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=421953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=421953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}