.jpg){kind=small}
While some parts of KELOLAND got more than 15 inches of snow, just a couple inches in the Sioux Falls area wasn't enough to rev up the struggling snow blower business.
The snow outside may be a good reminder of the work it takes to clean it all up, but a few inches just isn't enough to get things moving at Ideal Yardware.
"It's really tough because it's nothing I've done wrong or we've done wrong as a company. So we look at what can we do different. When we rely on weather so much with rain and snow and we don't get any, it's really tough," Cory Hansen with Ideal Yardware said.
While the snow blowers may be sitting idle, the phone is not. People who haven't started their snow blowers, in some cases for nearly two years, need some help.
"It's better to run them. The more they stay around and don't get started, the harder it is to start later on," Hansen said.
And then you've got guys like Todd Preheim who are responsible for clearing out his company's lot. The weekend snow was a good reminder to prepare.
"Had to come for some bolts for the snow blower and get some oil while I'm here. Change the oil; get it ready," Preheim said.
Now this sea of orange could quickly diminish if we get at least six inches of snow in the Sioux Falls area. The store just added another 150 snow blowers to its inventory last week.
"I bought a couple more semis of snow blowers last week just to have them here, because Grandpa Adolph always told me you can't sell off an empty shelf," Hansen said.
And now may be the best time to invest $1,000 in a snow blower when sales are still slow, rather than waiting until the big snow arrives and they go flying out the door.
"The worst time is if we get a whole bunch of snow and we don't have any inventory and we have to start buying from Boston or East Coast and buy it from dealers and then the prices go up," Hansen said.
Ideal Yardware is really hoping for a big snow because its lawn mower sales dried up over the summer, right along with the drought.
Comments