LEWISTON — Paul Lapointe sold 36 new snowblowers over the past five days, all sight unseen and claimed before the delivery truck pulled in. A load of six more arrived Thursday and all were sold.

The next delivery of 14 machines, each retailing between $1,000 and $1,500: half sold, as of 11 a.m.

“It’s reminding me of the Ice Storm (of ’98) when the demand was for generators,” said Lapointe, owner of Lapointe’s Lawn & Garden Center. “I wish we had 20 (new snowblowers) in the showroom that weren’t sold because we’d sell every one of them.”

While he fielded calls for new snowblowers, staff were busy at the Sabattus Street shop repairing older models for customers who’d blown a belt or accidentally sucked up a welcome mat.

“A lot of service work,” Lapointe said. “It’s piling up on us.”

As Maine is pounded with snow — 3 feet more than average for this time of year, according to the National Weather Service — local snowblower sales and small-engine repair shops say they are being inundated.

“We’re so busy that I don’t even know,” said a manager with a backlog of 60 to 70 snowblowers waiting to be repaired. He asked that the shop not be named.

“It’s getting toward the end of the season, so a lot of our vendors don’t have anything in stock, plus a lot of our stuff comes out of the Northeast, out of Massachusetts, and they’ve got a lot more snow than we do, so we’re pretty messed up right now,” he said.

In a typical winter, the state would have received 39.3 inches of snow by now, according to NWS meteorologist Eric Sinsabaugh.

As of noon Thursday, Portland had seen 75.3 inches.

“We’re still watching the models come together on this (next) one,” he said. There’s potential for 6-plus inches, with high winds and drifts. And it gets better: “There’s another one out there for midweek that could bring us more. But we’ll take them one at a time.”

All that has added up, and up, to a lot of snow to shovel, plow and blow. 

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen it like this,” said William Godins at Godins Small Engine Repair in Auburn. “It’s been slow all winter long until we’ve actually had these few storms, then all of a sudden everything broke loose.”

He’s seeing broken belts, drive disks and engines just plain balking at the freezing temps.

Dave Patry, who co-owns Dave’s Small Engine Repair in Oxford with wife Krissy, took the unusual step two weeks ago of opening his parts department on a Sunday to help customers.

“It was probably the first time in 10 years I’ve ever done that,” he said.

Patry had three employees working in the repair shop instead of the usual two and a service turnaround time averaging three to four days. He was waiting on the delivery of the next 20 new snowblowers due Friday from Wisconsin.

“Before the last big storm, we were selling 12 to 15 a day,” he said. In an average winter, his shop will sell 150 snowblowers, but “this year we’re well over that already. We’re probably going to be pushing the 200 mark.”

Patry sold a new machine to Farmers’ Almanac editor Peter Geiger before last month’s blizzard.

“He said just get ready for February; he says you better be ready,” Patry said. “At that time I had quite a few blowers still in stock, so I wasn’t too nervous — but he was right.”

Patry and Lapointe said they’re at the mercy of the weather and road conditions elsewhere, making new machine deliveries erratic. Both also said being so straight out was kind of fun.

“When they get their snowblowers, they’re so happy,” Lapointe said. “You may want a new boat, but you need a snowblower. My son has been on the road delivering them as fast as he can. When he shows up in their driveway, he’s their hero.”

kskelton@sunjournal.com