Elizabeth Keough, assistant manager at the Crafty Beaver Home Center in Uptown, said store traffic Thursday was a lot busier than expected given the rough conditions outside.
“We’re selling so many air filters, getting a little cleared out of masks as well,” Keough said.
Jin Kim, co-owner of Kim’s Hardware, said he similarly saw a “massive uptick.
Last week he ordered 200 of the cheaper, if less effective, KN95 masks even without having seen the news of the wildfires. Even then, single-packs of pricier N95 masks equipped with valves were the hottest commodity, prompting him to order still more of those.
“Since COVID when hardware stores were the only stores open, we were the only ones carrying the masks,” Kim said. “For us it worked out. … I do plan on picking up more, we’ve already blown through some of the inventory i picked up this morning.”
Jin Kim, co-owner of Kim’s Hardware, sells a pack of KN95 masks to a customer at his North Side store on Thursday.
Violet Miller/Sun-Times
Among those carrying air filters out of Kim’s store Thursday was Nate Sivak, who lives in Rogers Park.
“My girlfriend, who is really smart, is building us an air purifier out of a fan and air filters,” he said. “Our fan from last year was working so hard it went kaput.”
The lifelong Chicagoan, was displeased with the trend of annual wildfire smoke.
“It coats your sinuses, nose and throat with just a terrible feeling,” Sivak said. “I don’t like that the Great Lakes have become a wind tunnel for this wildfire smoke.”
Gino Izzi, meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said he’s not making any promises on when the smoke is expected to clear out Friday. The Illinois EPA has extended its air quality alert through midnight Friday.
Some scattered showers will move through the area midday Friday as well, but even that won’t help much, he said.
“It’s just a handful of areas that will get relief while the rain is there,” Izzi said. “The smoke will move right back in once the rain leaves.”
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