ST. LOUIS, MO (KTVI - FOX2now.com)—
This winter's weather has some businesses down in the dumps. This week's forecast has many local business blaming mother nature for lackluster sales. The shovels are hung by the door way with care. But customers wanting to winterize just aren't there.Steven Grellner said, "We need snow."
Bird feed, rock salt and firewood are usually December's hottest items. Today they remain untouched at Valley Park Elevator and Hardware. Grellner owns the Hardware store, He said, "Of course its different, we had no weather or snow and snow will help sales of salt and bird seed people feed the birds and worry about the birds when you have snow."
Grellner has been ready for weeks for winters first blast. "We have tons of pallets of salt, potassium chloride, snow shovels."
But Grellner waits and wonders when he'll see the return of customers concerned not about Christmas but keeping sidewalks clear and clean. "You hope. We don't need 20 inches, three or four inches would be nice," said Grellner.
Tim Jenkerson of St. Louis Lawncare and Snow removal said, "We're making sure we have enough salt, hooking up the plows, organizing our space."
Jenkerson just purchased new equipment for the season. "We have three trucks and two plows and a truck to pull the snow blowers," said Jenkerson.
A few inches of the white stuff would help offset those costs. "We got new equipment for the snow this year it would be nice if it could snow so that we can pay those off," said Jenkerson.
But Jenkerson looks on the bright side. The mild temperatures have prolonged the demand for lawncare. "It's been nice we've been doing lawncare through December. The grass is still growing," said Jenkerson.
Mother nature sure has thrown a few curve balls, always keeping the forecast in question. "Everyday we look at it, we look at it on our phone probably 10 times a day and its always changing every time we look at it," said Jenkerson.
