Business & Tech

Richmond Hardware Well-Stocked with Ice Melt

More snow is expected in the Braintree area Tuesday.

Despite the run on ice melting products last week and over the weekend because of the first snow storm of the winter, Braintree's Richmond Hardware was fully stocked Monday, ahead of more blustery weather forecast for Tuesday.

Co-owner David Richmond said Monday afternoon that Richmond is able to keep stocked with supplies of ice melt when others in the area run out because the Washington Street store has long-standing and year-round relationships with suppliers.

Richmond Hardware has in stock three types of ice melt: Calcium-based, Magnesium-based and a blend. They each come with different characteristics, Richmond said.

Calcium is best on asphalt and is quick melting. Magnesium works well on masonry and is pet friendly, while the blend is a mix of both and rock salt with much of the corrosiveness extracted and its melting time extended.

Richmond will likely go through four trucks of ice melt this week, each with 18 pallets filled with 50, 50-pound bags, amounting to some 180,000 pounds of ice melt.

That compares to the recent record winter of 2010, when Richmond Hardware went through 64 trucks on the season, or nearly three million pounds.

Richmond said the store also has about 1,000 shovels in stock and plenty of other supplies. It ran out of snow blowers a couple of weeks ago during the early-season run-up but has since re-stocked.

Interestingly, one of the biggest sellers Monday was paint, a hot commodity as contractors get supplies for pre-Christmas home renovations, Richmond said.


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