Westerville hardware store among many preparing for winter season

Winter has started to roll through central Ohio.

That means many are preparing for the cold and hardware stores are no different.

"Christmas lights, artificial trees, everything you might need or want for Christmas," said Gary Jacobs, a salesman at Roush Hardware in Westerville.

He said right now, it’s important to keep everything people may need in stock for the winter months.

"People are buying a lot of salt, a gentleman earlier bought 80 lbs. of salt,” he said.

Jacobs told 10TV that many hardware stores were impacted by the pandemic last year. Stockpiling was a problem his store ran into, getting low on items like salt.

He said this year they order a new shipment every week to keep up with the high demand.

“Now that it's snowing it'll be an even hotter item,” he said.

Yet some of your seasonal favorites might be harder to find on shelves.

Jacobs said this year it’s hard for stores to find Christmas lights, snowblowers, even sleds.

"You just never know what's right around the corner,” said Jacobs.