Winter weather is good for business, according to owners of a number of companies that deal in winter-related items.
This season’s snowstorms and cold temperatures have increased consumer demand in Crawford County and northwestern Pennsylvania for products and services to combat winter’s wrath.
“It’s the first real winter in five years,” said Cheryl Ervin, owner of the Ace Contractor Center hardware store of Meadville.
The county already has quite a bit of snow on the ground, according to area reports to the National Weather Service in Cleveland.
As of Thursday morning, the weather office said there were 10 inches of snow on the ground near Springboro, 8 inches near Conneaut Lake, 7 inches near Titusville, 6 inches near Cochranton and 5 inches near Atlantic.
The lingering snow and cold since Christmas has meant all kinds of items to lessen the impact are being sold, according to Ervin and Dick Holabaugh, owner of Ralston’s Hardware at Conneaut Lake.
“People are looking for heat tape, portable heaters and heat lamps as supplemental heat; windshield washer fluid for their vehicles; extension cords to run diesel engine heaters,” Holabaugh explained.
“They’re changing their furnace air filters as they’re running their furnaces more,” he continued. “They’re buying spray foam to seal cracks because they feel a draft. Silicone spray to keep shoes dry, shoe polish to clean up shoes with salt on them.”
There’s one category of item that’s really in demand — salt and related ice-melting products.
“We’re selling lots of salt and pet-safe salt,” Ervin said. “Pet-safe salt doesn’t burn a pet’s feet like salt.”
Retailers like Ervin and Holabaugh are facing challenges getting ice melt salts in stock due to high demand. They’re moving off shelves as fast as they come in.
“I’ve got four truckloads ordered and I’m hoping one of them gets here today,” Ervin said Thursday as she looked over dwindling current supplies.
It’s also been a challenge for snow-plowing contractors to keep up with service needs and having adequate supplies onhand.
“I’ve stocked up with more winter weather coming,” Brian Trace of Trace Lawn & Landscaping Inc. said of salt. “This is the first real winter in years. I’m having to go to Painesville (Ohio) to get salt at the mine. I was getting it at the dock in Erie. They can’t mine it fast enough.”
Jason Howles of Blooming Valley Landscape & Supply agrees.
“It’s really a normal winter,” Howles said. “We’ve not had a winter like this in the past few years. We’ve already plowed twice as much so far as we did all of last season.”
Bill Kingzett, owner of Avalanche Express, a local snow tubing business, is reveling in the winter weather. The business opened for the season earlier this month.
“It”s been nice to experience winter-type conditions for a change this year,” Kingzett said, noting the past few winter seasons have been hit-and-miss when it comes to snow.
“It’s nice to have the cold for snowmaking and nice to have snow on the ground for the customers,” he said. “It’s been a number of years for us to be able to make snow and be open.”