CHICAGO — This may surprise you, but when it finally stopped snowing Monday, a lot of Chicagoans found themselves lacking an essential city tool: a shovel.
Ukrainian Village resident Erin Stinson, 25, acknowledged that she "did not plan ahead" and was left scrambling Monday morning when her car was buried after more than 19 inches of snow.
She checked a neighborhood Facebook page and quickly realized that snagging a shovel after the historic blizzard might be an issue.
"I saw a post that the minimart down the street had two [shovels] left, so I threw on my coat and ran over there immediately," Stinson said. "When I got there, they were out. I walked up Chicago Avenue in and out of a few stores, including Mariano's, and everyone was out. I fell twice on that journey, too, so that was awesome. The snow drifts and sidewalks were unreal."
Stinson wasn't the only Chicagoan who had to leave her car buried for longer than expected.
Several stores around the city were still out of shovels on Wednesday and running low on salt.
"We opened up Monday and went through a couple hundred [shovels] by 2 o'clock," said Alan Gillman, owner of the Ace Hardware at 2118 N. Milwaukee Ave. "Everyone is out from what I understand."
While the store is out of shovels until Thursday morning, Gillman said there was still some salt left "but that's moving out quite quick now."
Matty Kollar of Matty K's Hardware, 4874 N. Lincoln Ave., said the store has been out of shovels since Tuesday, but they do have some 50-pound bags of salt remaining.
"We sold close to a hundred [shovels] over the last three days," Kollar said. "Even Home Depot is out of shovels. Our suppliers shelves are bare from everyone calling them nonstop."
Kollar said he should have more shovels in stock by Thursday afternoon.
It's not just the neighborhood hardware stores struggling to keep shovels on shelves. The Home Depot at 1300 S. Clinton St. in the South Loop has sold more than 400 shovels since the snowstorm, but has been out since Tuesday afternoon.
"[Home Depot Stores] are all in the same boat. Your best bet is North Avenue — they usually get the most," said R.J. Murrey-May, a manager at the store.
The store expects to get more shovels Wednesday night, but Murrey-May wasn't sure how many will come in or what time they would arrive.
A manager at the North Avenue store said they had a few in stock Wednesday afternoon but wouldn't verify how many.
Depending on how desperate you are to free your ride, Stauber Hardware, 3911 N. Lincoln Ave., said it still has some garden shovels for sale.
"We've sold all of them except for two garden shovels," said a manager at the hardware store.
"We've sold probably hundreds of them. Everyone's out," she said.
As for Stinson, she was saved by the suburbs.
"A friend who works out in the suburbs offered to check the stores out there," she said. "He finally found a Home Depot that had some left. He bought two, and we shoveled our way out last night. I'm happy to have two shovels now."
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