Braxton Christman slung a 50-pound bag of ice melt over his shoulder and walked to a customer’s vehicle parked in the Nesquehoning True Value store’s lot.

Within a matter of minutes, he would do it again — and again.

“We’ve been busy like this since Monday,” Christman said of the 2 Willow Lane store.

Monday was when predictions of a major snowstorm for the area began to trickle in. By Thursday, those predictions had snowballed, with the National Weather Service issuing a storm watch for between a foot and 16 inches of the white stuff.

The forecast for the late Saturday into Monday weather event brought shoppers to the hardware store for storm-related items, and others to places for bread, milk and booze.

“We’ve been very, very busy,” said Joe Arieta, who co-owns the True Value with his wife, Pat. “Shovels, rock salt and pet-safe ice melt are in big demand.”

So, too, are wood pellets, propane and coal, he said. Heat tape to wrap pipes, and boiler parts are also selling at a faster-than-usual pace.

“We are a weather-related business,” Arieta said.

Nearby, parking was at a premium at Redner’s Warehouse Market in Nesquehoning on Thursday afternoon.

Eric B. White, Redner’s director of marketing and communications, said the markets see more shoppers when meteorologists call for large storms.

When that happens, the stores begin preparing. With word of the weekend storm, preparations began Monday.

“We track the storms and start to bump orders for all of them to get necessary products in for inventory and the rush of customers,” White said. “So yes, we are well-prepared.”

While the Nesquehoning site was doing a brisk business Thursday afternoon, White expects it to increase as the storm nears.

“We also take measures to ensure that extra staff is working in the stores prior to the storm such as Friday and Saturday so that we can keep up with the influx of guests and the increased amount of business,” he explained.

Staff member Nicole Mohn helped fill shelves with dozens upon dozens of eggs. Along with milk and bread, White said they’re the stores’ hottest “storm” items.

“We call it ‘The French Toast Alert,’ ” White quipped, referring to the trio of ingredients used in the breakfast dish. “But other staple items such as soups, water and nonperishable items that one may need to get through a prolonged period or outage” are also big sellers.

At Giant Food stores, including those in Lehighton and Walnutport, employees are also making sure that shoppers have what they need.

“We’ve been watching the weather closely and our team has been busy preparing to continue serving customers,” said Ashley Flower, spokeswoman for The Giant Company. “We’ve taken several steps to be ready including moving up store deliveries, proactively increasing capacity for online orders in advance of the snow and increasing orders of the most demanded products.”

Flower noted that whenever a forecast includes inclement weather, Giant stores often see an increase in customers — and the purchases of certain items.

“As you’d expect, they’re stocking up on essentials like water, milk, bread, easy meal ingredients, baking supplies and nonperishable goods as well as items like batteries, shovels and windshield washer fluid,” Flower said.

Others will be heading out for alcohol.

Shawn Kelly, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, expects people to visit Fine Wine & Good Spirits shops ahead of the storm.

“Usually as storms approach, be it winter storms, tropical storms or hurricanes, we do see an increase in customers to our stores,” he said. “People will buy more to stock up before a predicted weather event.”

It’s the same for holidays, too, so stores make sure they’re prepared — and can properly replenish shelves once the event is over.