Want to look on the bright side of big snowfalls and frigid temperatures? Look no further than the snowblower sales industry which has been booming since early December.
From Tri-County Implement to Fleet and Farm and to True Value, snowblowers have been flying off the shelf as the winter wonderland has been particularly ...ahem... wonderous this year. In any case, folks are trading in their old equipment or chucking out their shovels for new blowers at a rate rarely seen.
Between the three Tri-County Implement stores of St. James, Truman, and Jackson, the normal amount of snowblowers sold for the winter season is 8-10. This year, says salesman Delwin Smith, the three stores have sold around 40, and that’s just in December.
“Basically those sales were from the first storm we had in December,” says Smith.
The 40 or so blowers they sold were largely basic walk-behind blowers.
Tri-County also offers heavier-duty tractor snowblowers. Those snowblowers on stock have also sold well.
Harlan Hanson works at Fleet and Farm in St. James. He says between the St. James and Fairmont stores, they’ve sold around 25 blowers with the majority sold in St. James. Hanson finds that customers either grow tired of shoveling or have old blowers that need repair.
“Either they got too tired of the shovel or they couldn’t replace parts from the old snowblowers,” says Hanson. “We very seldom sell that many in a year, but we can’t keep them on the shelves this year.”
To fulfill the demands of a snowy winter, Fleet and Farm just ordered four more blowers, three of which are already spoken for.
Along with sales of new machines, snowblower repair is a booming business this time of year. This is certainly the case at Fleet and Farm.
See more in the Jan. 14 Plaindealer.
st. james plaindealer —
