Local stores selling out of air conditioners as heatwave approaches

June 24, 2021 8:10 PM

Rania Kaur,

Posted: June 24, 2021 8:10 PM

Updated: June 24, 2021 8:18 PM

by Rania Kaur

SPOKANE, Wash. — Everyone is looking for ways to stay cool as the heat wave approaches, but for those trying to stay indoors – especially before it gets even hotter, you’re running out of options.

Concerned about the predicted skyrocketing temperatures, Frederick Lattimore for now is choosing to sit in the shade.

“God it’s so rough with that because I mean even boxed fans are not doing a lot for them. All I can tell them to do is keep a lot of water and ice around. There’s not a lot you can do,” he said.

Normally he’s indoors and luckily has good air, but for those trying to buy their air conditioning units – you may be running out of time.

“At the beginning of the week I had probably a total of close to 8 air conditioners, by yesterday all were gone except for these two on the floor here,” said Miller’s Hardware manager, Mark Schmale, adding they don’t even know when they’ll restock.

“My warehouse is completely out of all portable A/Cs and all window A/Cs now, so what I have is what I have,” he said.

While the General Store is a little luckier, they don’t expect to have stock for very long.

“We’ve just been proactive, and just made sure we had a little bit of stock going into the season,” said General Store manager, Mark McKee. “I think we’ll be out by this weekend for sure. After next week I think it’ll be very difficult to find air conditioners.”

Other stores in the Spokane area said they have little-to-no stock. Some do have fans available, but don’t expect A/Cs to restock once they’re sold out until the next week or two.