Storm sets off run on snow blowers

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Saturday’s big snowstorm created a big demand for snow blowers.

Hudson’s three largest dealers -- Mills Fleet Farm, Home Depot and Menards -- sold out of their big machines over the weekend.

Menards Store Manager Jeff Gresmer reported getting in a new shipment of two-stage snow blowers Tuesday morning.

Employees at Fleet Farm and Home Depot weren’t expecting to be as lucky.

“We’re waiting for e-mails. We have not heard back, so we are in limbo,” a Fleet Farm worker who took a call from the Star-Observer on Monday replied when asked if the store would be restocked with snow blowers.

“Yesterday (Sunday) alone, we could have sold 50 of them if we had them. I had that many calls,” she said. “And today (Monday), the same thing. It started all over again.”

She said Fleet Farm still had a few smaller one-stage snow blowers in the store on Monday.

“They only buy so many, because they’re never sure if they are going to get stuck with them and have to carry them over to the next year,” she said regarding the store’s dilemma in stocking snow blowers.

A manager at Home Depot laughed when he took a call inquiring about shovel and snow blower sales.

He said the Hudson Home Depot had between $16,000 and $20,000 in snow blower sales on Saturday alone.

“I wish we had had more, because we could have sold so many. We did have quite a lot, but everyone was coming in for one,” said the Home Depot worker who first answered the phone.

She said Home Depot had 15 to 20 snow blowers remaining Sunday morning, but they went quickly.

The Home Depot employees advised people still looking for a snow blower to purchase one through the store’s website.

“If it was me, and I wanted to make sure I got one, I would go online right now,” said the manager, who didn’t want to be identified.

His co-worker said customers who order snow blowers online have been getting them quicker than in the seven to 10 days promised on the website.

“That’s your best bet, because our whole region got sold out. But we do have snow shovels,” she said.

The manager added that Home Depot also has rakes for pulling snow off from roofs and uncovering vents.

“Roof rakes are important now. People need to clean off their roofs and vents,” he said.

Hudson Fire Chief Jim Frye echoed the concern in a call to the Star-Observer.

He said the fire department was called to two houses during the storm on Saturday where plugged furnace vents had caused carbon monoxide to collect inside the homes.

The high-efficiency furnaces at those homes were vented out the sides of the houses, however.

Frye said the homes had good carbon monoxide alarms that detected the gas.

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