BALTIMORE COUNTY — We're only at the beginning of March and with this up and down weather, it can make your eyes water. Especially, with all those allergies that are already kicking in for people, as one day it's hot and one day it's cold.
It might be time to put away the snow supplies and bring out the spring ones. The winter, or not so winter has affected many businesses.
It was a snowy winter that never came and the mom-and-pop tool stores are feeling the pain.
"As of last week, we started moving all our ice melt and snow shovels and everything related to snow into storage,” said Vincent Ayd, owns Ayd Hardware in Towson.
And in its place now lies flower seeds and weed preventer. Ayd says not selling much snow equipment this year has put a dent in the income.
"This business relies on winter sales, not just on mine, any hardware store. We all rely on winter sales, when we don't get them, it puts a real constriction on cash flow,” said Ayd.
Now, only a few snow shovels hang on the wall and the sign that usually sits in front of the store went from "snow sleds now" to "mower tune up time."
Ayd said, "We rolled over to our spring. I think spring is going to break early this year.”
And what comes along with all the unpredictable springtime weather? Coughing sneezing and all the symptoms of allergies.
“Every allergen that pops up causes a little bit of a different allergy for somebody. Some people get it in the eyes, some in the nose, some get scratchy throat,” said Pharmacist Mitchell Kromsky.
Kromsky owns Towson Pharmacy and Charlesmead Pharmacy. He says he's seen an uptick in people picking up allergy medicine already.
"This year the weather has been hot, it’s been cold, we had 60 degree weather, we had 20 degree weather and people's allergies are happening,” Kromsky said.
He says there's a lot of different medications that'll knock out those uncomfortable symptoms. "We recommend that a person start with Claritin or Zyrtec or the generic for the Claritin or Zyrtec. The Loratadine or the Cetirizine and those are usually once a day tablet.”
He says once we see the trees start to bloom and spring is in full swing the allergies will get worse. That tends to happen to one Towson local, Renee Russell, who says this season throws her for a loop.
"I get allergies every year and it seems like I can go through meds for a couple years and they help and then I got to switch my meds. So this year I’m looking for a new medication to start,” said Russell.
Kromsky says if those allergies are really taking over, and you're very congested you can get the allergy products with Sudafed from behind the counter.
