Store Owners Stock Up On Ice Melt To Prepare For Winter

BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Have you stocked up on ice melt for this winter yet? Demand this year has come earlier as New England continues to get hit by an icy December.

“Majority of people are going to wait until after a storm,” Kevin Lovett, manager of Economy True Value Hardware in South Boston, said. “Some people do buy the day before. There’s even some people as soon as we get the stuff in they’ll buy it back a week, just to have it.”

Following a shortage of ice last winter, some store owners are prepped this year, hoping to avoid shortages.

“We ordered pretty early this year, so the stuff we ordered in March, came in this fall,” Lovett said.

With that being said, some specialty items are still low in stock.

“There appears to be some shortages of certain chemicals, like I’m not seeing calcium chloride available right now. Regular ice melt right seems to be ok, we did bring in the rock salt because we couldn’t get any more regular ice melt at the moment,” Lovett said.

As temperatures lower and potential snowstorms loom, people are encouraged to plan ahead before the next storm comes.

“We are concerned it could get low, if not run out, but right now we got the stock, so we should be good for a few more storms,” Lovett said.

WBZ NewsRadio’s James Rojas (@JamesRojasMMJ) reports.