Hardware Store Keeps Up With Demand For Shovels, Snow Blowers

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Trying to find a snow shovel or a snow blower right now is like trying to find a needle in a haystack, but there is one Northeast Philadelphia hardware store that has both those items and more in stock.  How do they do that?

Stuart Stern, one of the owners of S & H Hardware at Castor and Unruh Avenues, explains how they do it, "Every year we take a gamble. Very rarely do we win like this year, but we do win. This year we brought in quite a bit of equipment. When we start to run out of it, we'll get on the phone, and we'll find it in Chicago, The West, Colorado where they are not having as bad of a winter as we're having."

The reaction of customers is, he says, "Disbelief that you have the equipment. Then it's 'which one can I have? And how soon can I have it?'"

Stern takes pride in his work, but it comes at a personal price, he says, "I can tell you my wife does not appreciate not seeing me. Ever since the Christmas snowfall, I've been working seven days."

But he's proud he has what his customers need!

Reported by Michelle Durham, KYW Newsradio 1060