It’s another sweltering day in the Northeast and Capital Region residents are doing whatever they can to stay cool.
A month of extreme weather continued Friday and local Stewart’s manager Cory Gilmore says his store on Manning Boulevard in Albany is seeing increased demand.
“Water- 24 packs, cases, soda. Anything to do with liquid, like Gatorade. Especially, a lot of Gatorade, water bottles, anything. Arizona Iced teas. Milk. It’s anything, basically anything that is liquid, just flying off the shelves," Gilmore said.
Gilmore says he’s ordered extra to keep up with demand.
Fellow employee Keith Dipac says although the store isn’t an official cooling station, they’re doing what they can to help.
“Just keeping up our AC, making sure that it's running as cool as we possibly can. Giving people a place to sit and stick around for a little bit to cool off," Dipac said.
Gilmore says that increased demand goes for ice cream, too.
Customers gathering at Jim’s Tastee-Freez in Delmar agree. Oscar Almeida says in this kind of heat, ice cream is the best plan.
“Well, what better day to eat ice cream then on a day that's so hot you can’t do anything else?" Almeida said.
Eugenia Almeida says convenience is another reason to stop by.
“It's close by. I mean, we come here all the time. You have your stores down the road, when you go shopping, you come here and get an ice cream," Almeida said.
While most people at the Tastee-Freez were getting ice cream, Paula Jollif of Delmar had different plans.
“I grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, and hotdogs rule. There’s really a famous one connected with Cincinnati. So I am inclined to like a hot dog, partly from where I was born," Jollif said.
But not just any hot dog.
“This one is called a chili cheese," Jollif said.
It was quiet at opening, but people streamed in around 11:30.
Back in Albany, splash pads were busy early in the day. At Krank Park, about 20 young people were happy to cool down.
