It was straight to the appliance aisle for Farmingdale residents the past two days, as temperatures have soared above 90 degrees.
Sharon Asmussen, a customer at this afternoon, purchased a Honeywood oscillating standing fan, to take the edge off of the blistering heat.
“I am buying it for my bedroom," she said. "We have A/C in the living room but it doesn’t cool off the bedroom.”
Ralph, an employee at Walmart, said he thinks more people will be buying fans than air conditioners this summer, to try to keep energy costs down in this economy.
But the shelves told a different story. Fans were abundant in Walmart with several different types like tower fans, window fans, personal fans and even ceiling fans. However, there was not one air conditioner left in the Farmingdale Walmart location.
"We are out of them. Everyone is getting them, it’s just too hot," said George, a sales associate at Walmart, indicating that with weather like this residents will risk a hefty energy bill for a cool home.
The situation was similar at the on Route 110 in Farmingdale.
“No one asks for the stuff till it gets really hot, now they are all asking, and we are sold out,” said Bruno, a Target employee.
Like Walmart, Target ran out of air conditioning units Thursday, but was fully stocked with fans. Target’s fans were priced a bit higher than Walmart’s .
Some residents are cooling off in other ways as well. Estelle, a sales associate at Target, says customers are buying everything needed for the summer heat. “They buy pools, water guns and sprinklers," she said. "Just about anything to cool off."
