Hard to find winter weather supplies sell fast at local hardware stores

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — With another round of wintry weather expected to come our way, many may be trying to stock up on supplies to deal with snow, ice, and frigid temperatures.

Snow shovels, ice scrapers, heaters, and salt have been hot commodities in the past two weeks after winter storms pushed through the Cape Fear. Both Stevens Ace Hardware and Wrigglesworth Ace Hardware in Wilmington say they restocked these items this week, but due to the recent demand and supply chain issues, they expect them to disappear fast.

“We sold 146 bags of salt in less than one day, completely out. Just got more shipment in this past week, so we’re stocked for this weekend. We sold out of everything that had to do with heaters, we sold all of our propane, pretty much everything that had to do with a snow storm, we sold out on,” said Lisa Feith, Stevens Ace Hardware manager.

“We sold all of the snow shovels that we had that we never sell. We’re getting so many folks moving into the area that they didn’t get the supplies the first time right, you don’t have a generator–you’re not used to the –you know if you move from Jersey down here, you’re used to snow up there, and you’re not used to it down here,” said Jim Wriggleworth, Wriggleworth’s Ace Hardware owner.

Feith says many people are replenishing items that they would have used during hurricane season, and adding new supplies for the winter weather.

“I think everybody’s trying to stock up because hurricanes are different than just power going out, you still have to open the doors, when its ‘still freezing cold outside, you really can’t do that. So everybody’s trying to get heaters, the generators, we sold drop cords. People are trying to make sure that their animals and pets are warm so they’re buying heat lamps and heat bulbs. So, I mean it’s been insane kind of,” said Feith.

Wrigglesworth says this rush of customers during the winter season is reminiscent of the rush they typically see during hurricane season.

“We’re actually getting winter again. So I think because we’re getting winter and those fronts are coming across, we’ll see more activity for these items,” said Wrigglesworth.

Wrigglesworth said the store also had orders for items like snow shovels to be sent to places around the country expected to be hit harder by winter weather.