Some North Texas hardware stores are starting to run out of winter weather supplies like de-icer melt and space heaters.
Many hardware stores like Home Depot and Lowe’s are slammed with last-minute shoppers, caught off-guard by this blast of winter weather.
"It’ll be 70 mid-week and then freezing by the end of the week. That’s a normal Texas winter,” said Lowe’s shopper Eleanor Bogner.
The Lowe’s store along Highway 183 in Irving had been busy this week putting the spring items up for display.
“March will be here before you know it,” said assistant store manager Bryan Suhy. “And then a few weeks after that it’s spring break, and so it’s around the time people start planning on grilling out.”
Now the Lowe’s team is rushing to put winter items like de-icer and firewood back on display in the front of the store.
“We’d been getting ready for the spring season. Grills and mowers and ACs and fans. But it’s a quick change right back to winter, that’s how it works” Suhy said.
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“That’s why they have that saying in Texas. If you don’t like the weather wait 5 minutes,” he added with a smile.
And those space heaters are in short supply in North Texas. Marisa Booker grabbed the last one.
“I just left Wal-Mart and they’re all sold out. So I’m trying to find something to keep me warm in case it gets really bad,” she said. “I already have blankets, and food and water, and batteries. But I wanted a space heater.”
Shoppers say it’s important to be prepared in case the ice is thicker—or the winter weather sticks around for longer—than originally predicted.
“If something happens someone may not be able to get to you in time. And so you need to take care of yourself. That’s why God gave you a brain,” Eleanor Bogner said.
