Icy Driveways Keep Salt in High Demand
At Robbinsdale’s Ace Hardware Store, salt is a coveted commodity. Owners received a new shipment of salt Wednesday and say it’s hard to keep it in stock right now. Maple Grove’s public works director described city streets as “a skating rink” and says the city salted residential streets on Monday. The city doesn’t usually salt city streets because of environmental reasons.
You could say at the Robbinsdale Ace Hardware store, ice equals cash.
“Ace Hardware makes money off of the weather so it’s going good,” said General Manager Scott Kings.
A Coveted commodity
“I walked in and they said they just showed up with another load of salt,” Tim Van Slyke said. “I said, oh yeah I need that.”
“I’ve called around a lot today and most people are out,” said Steve Brown of Robbinsdale. “When I called this morning, they said we should have some pretty soon. I’m thrilled. It’s scary out there.”
On Wednesday, Ace Hardware received a new shipment of salt and it was the most popular item in the store.
“It’s literally coming off the shelves, yes,” Kings said.
Normally salt sales at Ace are approximately 250 bags a day. But since Tuesday the total is 800 and counting.
“I was really happy to see it,” Van Slyke said. “I love this store and was glad to see they have it.”
Snow shovels selling too
Other winter-related stuff is being bought as well.
“We also sell cherry rock mix it in with that, grit for traction on the sidewalks as well,” Kings said. “That flies off the shelves. We also sell sand bags.”
Snow shovels are another hot ticket item and it would be smart to stock up on those. Thursday’s forecast calls for a 90 percent chance of snow.
