No, it's not Black Friday, but hundreds of shoppers were on a quest Monday night for the latest hot ticket item. They lined up inside a store in Southington waiting to make their purchase.
"When we were driving here we saw all the traffic, we thought something else was going on. But snow rakes?" said Dave Cartier of Wallingford.
That's right. The hype is over roof rakes, which have become the latest coveted item in snow removal. Since the rakes sold out at stores across the state, customers lined up to get their hands on one of the 2,000 brought in by Superior Products Distributors, Inc. in Southington. The store says it had 900 people pre-order the rakes, and that's a big change from years' past.
"We sell about five a year on a good year, seven if it's going to be a heavy year," said Fred Beimler, one of the store managers.
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"I bought one ours up in Vermont about 20 years ago, so it's lasted, but we never used it," said Linda Trawicki of Meriden.
However, she's used it many times this winter, and that's why the roof rake is in such demand. Not only were customers lining up inside, but the traffic also backed up outside. A police officer had to direct cars, and some vehicles packed in on the side streets just to get into the store.
"I don't think anyone expected back to back snow storms. Everywhere in the state, no matter where you go you have four, five feet of snow sitting on top of your rooves. The water is starting to come through the house. It went through my house," said Beimler.
The store says it will have another 500 roof rakes delivered on Tuesday, then another 500 on top of that delivered on Wednesday.
