MARSHALL – When you drive down Main Street, you can always tell what season it is by looking into the display windows at Patzer’s Hardware Hank. During summer, there are lawn mowers and yard tools that look back at you through the front windows, but now in early November, they have been replaced by snowblowers, shovels and humidifiers in preparation for winter.

“We start servicing snowblowers in early October,” said owner Lyle Patzer. “There’s early birds that call us, and we pick them up… and there’s always a very large group that waits until the first blizzard and that puts a lot of stress on the shop.”

Patzer said that beyond the snow removal equipment, they also stock up on their line of humidifiers and replaceable filters for every brand.

“The houses dry out, your nose starts getting sore… so it’s important to get the humidifier going,”?he said.

Before the snow, Patzer said they see a lot of people coming in for winterization supplies like weather stripping, window coverings and heaters.

Down the road, the snowblowers and snowmobiles on the showroom floor at Marshall Small Engine have been moved to the front of the building to replace its summer stock of lawn mowers and ATVs. The shop also services a lot of snowblowers, but it usually sees people who get caught unprepared and wait until the first snow arrives.

“They usually wait until the first snow hits,” said Todd Poach, who works in sales and service. “We see very little before the snow, but once the snow hits, we’re flooded.”

Poach suggested testing out your equipment before winter hits, “just get it out of the shed, start it up and make sure everything works. When the snow is a foot deep, it isn’t the time to do it.”

Across town, Runnings salesman Kevin Dagner said the store started putting out its cold weather items in early October, beginning with moving all of its lawn and garden supplies to make room for holiday toys and ice fishing gear.

“We basically almost remodel the store,” Dagner said with a chuckle.

Runnings also gets in on the recreational side of winter, selling ice fishing tackle, ice augers and snowshoes.

“They just put up four or five aisles for ice fishing in the last week,” Dagner said. And a large area had been cleared to make room for fish houses that would be set up within a few days.

The first thing you see when you walk into the entryway at True Value is a row of snowblowers. Ice melt and salt are placed on the aisle endcaps near the checkout, and the store’s general manager, Bob Sternke, said the store is stocking up on anything that’s needed for when the cold weather hits.

“We have snowblowers out, snow tools, ice melt, snow fence… and antifreeze, jumper cables and gas de-icer… anything for the cold,” Sternke said.

They’ve seen a handful of snowblowers go out the door already this season, but Sternke said that most people wait until they need the gear to get it.

“The ones we’re seeing now are the preppers, and typically people don’t buy a snowblower until there’s snow,” Sternke said. “They don’t buy a scraper until there is ice or a shovel until the snow comes.”

The store is prepared, Sternke said, and when the snow comes, it brings out all the gear it has.

“We have snow hit and our snow shovels… we move them right by the front door,” he said.