Overview
- Rock salt was sold out Thursday at Stanford Home Center in Plum, with staff expecting a new shipment Friday and another busy day.
- Eastwood Hardware in Penn Hills reports steady traffic and is awaiting rock salt while carrying ample calcium chloride.
- Retailers emphasize performance differences: rock salt works near 20°F, while calcium chloride melts ice to roughly −25°F and is often preferred for concrete and pets.
- Customers have been buying shovels, brushes, windshield wiper fluid and other essentials after winter storm watches were issued for Western Pennsylvania.
- Stores say they ordered ahead and remain stocked with alternatives such as magnesium chloride, with additional salt deliveries planned for Friday.