"I just sold my last bag of ice melt," Bob Margherio, owner of Mac Do it Best Hardware in Webster Groves, said Monday morning. "I sold four tons of ice melt in four hours this morning."

Margherio said he hopes another 18 tons of the product arrive at the store tommorrow. Margherio said customers are also buying flashlights, batteries and snow shovels and that he's getting low on those items as well.

Paul Simon, a Schnucks spokesman, said the grocery chain has been prepping for the storm for days. Area grocery stores were swamped on Sunday and continued to be very busy Monday, he said.

"We are feverishly working today to get back in stock," he said. "The reports from the field are that most stores are in stock with the staples and ready to help customers."

He said that Schnucks stores plan to stay open normal hours throughout the storm.

Dierbergs grocery stores did double the amount of normal business on Sunday as residents rushed to stock up on staples such as milk, bread, bananas, toilet paper and beer, said Todd Vasel, a Dierbergs spokesman.

"It would be the equivalent to us of a Christmas Eve, which is typically one of our busier days of the year," he said. "As fast as they were bringing items out, they were being picked up."