They may be the world’s biggest retailer, but Walmart doesn’t appear to know much about Canada. Or at least about Canadian weather.

My snow shovel broke. Not surprising after 20 Canadian winters.  It is still usable, just a chunk missing from the blade, which broke off when I hit ice.

Still, with at least two months of winter left, I figured I should buy a replacement. So I walked across the street to Walmart. Not my favorite store, but it is close, and I had seen snow shovels there in the fall

This is winter though. I could get gardening shovels and rakes, though the ground is frozen solid in January. There were two small snow shovels at Walmart, the type you throw in the trunk of the car for emergencies, not the type to deal with a serious snowfall in your driveway.

It’s the third week of January. Why can I buy a barbecue and gardening tools at Walmart and not a snow shovel? Is this a misunderstanding of the needs of Canadians in winter? Or is it just a supply chain issue?

I thought possibly the latter, until I drove a couple of kilometres to a Canadian Tire store.  They had snow shovels in stock. All sorts of them. Dozens, maybe a hundred.

Smaller ones, like the two at Walmart. And larger ones. And larger ones than that for clearing skating rinks. Even some ergonomic ones for people like me who don’t want back problems caused by lifting heavy snow.

So I got my shovel. Paid about twice as much as I did for the one I bought 20years ago, but I expected that.

Despite the price, I’m not sure this one will last 20 years. The old one has a metal strip on the blade which helped when it hit ice. The new one doesn’t. It is lighter though, and maybe the new plastic is sturdier.

With snow in the forecast, at least I have a snow shovel. I wonder when Walmart will realize that not stocking such things in the winter sends consumers to other stores.