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Heaters leave behind space on Yuma shelvesJan 16, 2013 (The Sun - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Heaters are a hot commodity these days. The persistent wintery snap of late has meant a big run on local home improvement stores for space heaters to take some of the chill out of Yumans' bones. So if you are just now thinking it might be nice to grab a heater to keep your tootsies toasty, then you might be out of luck, at least until shelves are restocked in a few more days. The good news is that it's expected to hit 63 degrees today and 70 degrees Thursday, according to the National Weather Service. But between Saturday and Tuesday, the National Weather Service recorded lows here of 36 or 37 degrees, not accounting for any wind chill, and highs ranging from 50 to 56 degrees. That's downright cold, at least by local standards. A normal high this time of year is 69 degrees, and the low more like 48 degrees. At Southwest Lumber, a couple of space heaters were left on the shelves Tuesday, like the $99 "Buddy" model of propane heater. "I expect more in on Friday, but right now I am down to bare minimum," said manager Gannon Sullivan. Sullivan said he had a range of heaters not too long ago, but sales the past couple of days just about cleaned out his inventory. "This week has been something else," he said. Foothills Hardware was sold out of heaters. Home Depot was running low, although the bigger kerosene models, like you'd use to warm up at the dunes or on your patio, were still available. Home Depot store manager Amberlee Cuaresma said it's not too unusual to run out, as winter visitors who didn't pack their heaters decide that they'd like to have one after all. As a shopper herself, Cuaresma found that smaller electric heaters are much harder to come by. "They're very sparse." Don Smith, who manages Lowe's, said a variety of price-point heaters came into the store Friday, and there were enough to fill an endcap, which is a display at the ends of aisles. By Monday, they were gone. The only remaining heaters in the store Tuesday were above $40 each. People were also buying electric fireplaces -- larger pieces that are more like furniture, with sophisticated thermostats -- along with compressed fire logs and traditional firewood, he said. Lowe's was totally out of the latter. Smith said a shipment of wood that would have normally lasted two or three weeks was gone within a couple of days. He expects more wood and logs this week and hopefully, more heaters not long after. "One more day of cold weather and the whole town will be wiped out," he said. "Luckily, it's supposed to warm up." Hillary Davis can be reached at [email protected] or 539-6857. Find her on Facebook at Facebook.com/YSHillaryDavis or on Twitter at @YSHillaryDavis. ___ (c)2013 The Sun (Yuma, Ariz.) Visit The Sun (Yuma, Ariz.) at www.yumasun.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |