CLAREMONT — The heat wave gripping New York City may be causing power outages, oppressively uncomfortable subway stations and flying cockroaches, but at Eddie's Ice House in the South Bronx, warm weather just means good business.
"Being that this is my dad’s lot, which makes it my lot, I want it to stay hot. Like, I want it to be 100 degrees every day," said Eddie Rosario Jr., the 30-year-old manager of the ice house. "Because like I said, the hotter it is, the more people come in. The more they want ice."
Eddie's Ice House, located in The Bronx at 1318 Southern Blvd., went through about $8,000 worth of ice on Saturday alone, when the city's heat index reached 108.4 degrees, and it took just one day for the business to go through 58 of the roughly 60 large ice blocks it purchased on Sunday morning.
Customers kept streaming in at a steady pace on Monday for more blocks of ice, although Rosario said it was nothing compared to the previous two days.
"This weekend, it was just nonstop," Rosario said. "I guess the heat, people were using the ice for whatever they could use it for."
"Some people get creative," he continued. "If you put a block of ice in front of your fan, it's just like blowing cold air all day."
The shop sells blocks of ice ranging from about 25 to 150 pounds and can cut heavier pieces as well if a customer is in need of a particularly large amount.
Customer Miguel Suarez said he comes to Eddie's about three times per week and stopped by on Monday to pick up some ice that he could use to sell snow cones in The Bronx.
He said it was a busy weekend for him as well because of the heat and was optimistic that he would continue to sell a lot of the treats on Monday.
"I hope so," he said, "because it's hot."
Bronx resident Ronald Gibson came to Eddie's on Monday as well and said he frequents the business to help supply his picnics and block parties with ice.
"They're pretty reasonable," he said. "I've been coming here for years."
Rosario may be cheering on the heat as a businessman, but he is less enthusiastic about it as someone who actually works at Eddie's Ice House and has to lug heavy blocks of frozen water across a parking lot in the heat.
"With the blacktop here, if it’s like 90 degrees anywhere else, it feels like 105," he said, "and there’s just, like, no air."
Still, he acknowledged that, for all of its downsides, the heat is ultimately what keeps Eddie's Ice House afloat.
"If there was no crime, we wouldn’t have cops," he said. "If there was no heat, I wouldn’t be in business."
