Gas stations in the southeastern corner of the province say it has been an incredible winter for business thanks to all the snow.

Sandra Limburg is Manager of the Vintage Corner Store in Woodridge. She says they are loving all the snow because of the way it is impacting their sales.

Limburg describes Saturdays as "pretty crazy," noting they always make sure they have enough staff scheduled to work and then just watch the customers come and go.

"Usually about 10:30ish we start getting busy," she says. "And then by early afternoon it's pretty much someone just stays on the gas and someone stays on the till."

According to Limburg, on a busy Saturday, they can sell about 2,000 litres of premium gas, noting they have certainly run out of fuel a time or two.

"When we put in the tanks, we should have put in a little bit of a larger one," she comments. "We didn't realize it would be this busy."

In fact, Limburg says sometimes they will see the same customer fill up gas multiple times in a single day.

On a normal Saturday, she says they will see anywhere from 100 to 200 sleds coming through for fuel.

"They all fill up and grab a snack and away they go," she adds.

Clearview Co-op at South JunctionWhen comparing this winter to last, Limburg notes last winter was pretty quiet. Southern Manitoba received only a fraction of the amount of snow and Limburg notes this winter puts last winter to shame.

Limburg says snowmobile trails are in great condition this winter, noting groomers have done a superb job. She notes this is bringing a lot of new customers to the store in Woodridge.

Meanwhile, Donna Hora is Manager of the South Junction Clearview Co-op. She notes fuel sales this winter are up about 11 per cent over the previous two years.

"It's been fantastic, it's great to see all the traffic out there," she notes. "It's really helped boost our overall fuel sales."

Similar to what Limburg said, the station in South Junction reports weekends as their busiest days of the week. Hora says they recently counted 228 machines coming in for fuel one Saturday; a number they have not seen in years. She notes on Saturdays and Sundays they will typically sell between 3,000 and 5,000 litres of premium gas per day. And not only are they selling a lot of gas but their restaurant is busy too.

"As soon as one table leaves, we clean it, we got more traffic coming in," she notes. "We sometimes have lineups waiting to come in to eat at the restaurant."

Both Hora and Limburg note if not for the cold weather, it would probably be even busier.

"The cold we could do without," says Limburg. "Our sales in extension cords have gone through the roof."