New Jersey shoppers stocking up for storm

CHERRY HILL, N.J. (WPVI) -- The countdown is on for the first major snowstorm of the season, and people in the Garden State aren't wasting any time preparing for it.

Grocery stores there are starting to get busy and it's only expected to get worse.

At the Wegman's in Cherry Hill, the race was on Wednesday night.

"You get the regular things. Bread, milk, eggs, butter, cheese," said Anthony Errichetto of Haddonfield.

It would appear the train has left the station on storm preparations across the region and items were flying off the shelves faster than they could be restocked.

Aisles previously lined with essentials - bread, milk, eggs - and even bagels in the bakery were reduced to nothing after a mad rush of shoppers.

"They didn't even have the milk I wanted. Just plain skim milk, but what are you gonna do," said Doreen Haenick of Cherry Hill.

At Lowe's Hardware, people were stocking up on snow and ice melt, shovels, ice breakers and snow blowers - an item that was flying out the store.

"We sold probably about 10-15 snow blowers last night, plus an additional five, maybe 6, over the Internet over the last 36 hours," said Assistant Manager Megan Sowders.

John Gasowski of Berlin ordered his online.

"I'm ready. I hope it snows a lot after what I paid for it," said Gasowski. "I was worried we weren't going to need it at all this year."

Rich Valente of Voorhees says he wants to make sure he's ready before the last-minute rush sets in and things run out.

"I want to make sure I got plenty of rock salt," said Valente.

Madeline Watson of Haddon Township says she'll be staying home until the storm passes, adding she doesn't mind being stuck during the weekend.

"It's the weekend, so what. Everybody will stay home," said Watson.