Absence of snow makes the heart grow fonder, but abundance of it makes the shelves grow barer.

Across Central Oregon retailers are losing the fight to keep their customers armed with the essentials for big winter dumps: snowblowers, shovels, ice melter and sleds.

”We sold more shovels and ice melter last week than we did all last year,” said Harry Miller, co-owner of Miller Lumber in Bend.

The timing of the snow over two holiday weeks, in which truckers and wholesalers were on vacation, put Miller Lumber in the position of scrambling to find anyone who would sell and deliver the items to them, Miller said.

This problem was aggravated by additional demand from stores in the valley and Portland, which aren’t usually competing for snow-removal items, Miller said.

The store was stocked to aptly serve its customers under the historical snowfall conditions, but a dump of almost three feet of snow in the past week and a half mocked that stocking level.

Miller said he got in new bags of ice melter Monday, but expects that supply to be gone soon. Shovels are sold as soon as they arrive, he added. And snow roof rakes, little more than dust-collectors until this winter, all ran off with those consumers worried about the effects of snow melting on the roof.

The Big R in Redmond sold out of sleds, two orders of snow shovels and its entire stock of snowblowers and ice melt, according to assistant store manager Tom Galvin.

The store has more ice melter on its shelves today but forget trying to buy a snowblower, he said.

”We called Honda, one of our main brands, and they basically said we won’t get more until next season,” Galvin said. Heaters for construction job sites are also flying off the shelves, Galvin said.

La Pine’s Ace Hardware is out of shovels and snow rakes, cashier Darlene Roberts said. Ice melter is still available.

Even retail behemoth Fred Meyer has been stranded in the snowstorm. Ray Arellano, an employee in the Home Department said they have been sold out of sleds since last week but were getting in more last night.

Shovels are nowhere to be found, but they have stocked more ice melter, which doesn’t quickly help get you out of your driveway in the deep one-day snowfalls the area has been receiving.

Frugality by Bend’s Powder House store manager, Dana Wolff made her an accidental hero. She ordered a two years’ supply of sleds to save on freight charges. By Monday night, the store had only about 25 left of the nearly 100 she ordered.

”I heard Wal-Mart even called here looking to buy some,” she said.

Kevin Max can be reached at 541-617-7822 or kmax@bendbulletin.com.