WEST HAZLETON -- In preparation for this next round of winter weather, lots of folks are again heading out and stocking up on essentials.
The Lowe's in West Hazleton always gets busy before a snow storm, and when ice is in the forecast, customers come in looking for one thing: ice melt.
Lowe's employees say they've been selling a lot of ice melt recently. They have an area at the front of the store where they keep it all during the winter.
"Absolutely, here it would be snow melt, sometimes saw dust. But, definitely snow melt as long as we can keep it in stock," said Lowe's employee Jamie Price.
But they say with all the snow and ice we've had recently, it's hard to keep it in stock.
"Our resources are depleting quickly. The distribution center is constantly bringing some in as well."
A lot of the people coming into Lowe's are looking specifically for ice melt that is good for your pets.
"From what I'm told, the regular salt makes paws raw. So, I don't want that to happen," said Mark Dispirito.
Another customer runs his own plowing business.
"You know, you plow the lots but then you get the ice underneath it and so you have to do it right, so you have to put the salt down and make sure it's nice and clean for people," Neil Balsko said.
He's had to replenish his ice melt supply several times this year.
"I've been going through it pretty good. I thought I had enough but the way this season's been, it's been kind of rough with it this year."
Lowe's employees tell Newswatch 16 their ice melt supply is automatically reordered and sent to them when their inventory gets low to prevent them from running out.