Some stores in downtown Raleigh were left with empty shelves of milk and eggs on Thursday, while others were in good shape.
"Stocking up on food, which we did earlier in the week, and water, making sure we have a lot of water," Mark Blum said.
Some shoppers, including Blum, said they don't know what to expect this weekend as central North Carolina could see snow, sleet, and freezing rain.
"I remember (the ice storm a few years ago) was pretty bad," Blum said. "Very bad, and there was gridlock here. You never really know."
At hardware stores such as Burke Brothers in Raleigh, employees were seen unloading Thursday's delivery of more supplies ahead of the incoming winter weather.
Jeff Hastings, who's the owner, said some of the things that have been flying off the shelves recently are ice melt, hand warmers, gloves, sleds and a deicer for car windshields.
"We just got some of our ice-melt down," Hastings said. "I'm getting ready to go back inside to make a couple more phone calls to see if I can get some more coming."
As of noon on Thursday, the 120 bags of ice-melt they received were halfway gone as some customers stocked up on dozens of bags at a time.
"If you're looking for sleds or ice-melt, now's the time to do it," Hastings said.
For Cece Reed, it's not the ice-melt she was looking for on Thursday, but bird food, as her winter weather preparations include supplies to stay cozy this weekend while watching the birds.
"Just staying stocked up with fruits and vegetables and already got my milk last week," Reed said. "So getting some bird food now to feed the snowbirds."
Hastings said this time around shovels and sleds are flying off shelves. When it comes to car care items, hand warmers, ice scrapers with nylon brushes, and de-icer spray are must-haves.
"Oh, the last time we had a major snowfall, we sold about 1,200 sleds and about two and a half truckloads of ice melt," said Burke Brothers Hardware owner Jeff Hastings.
On Wednesday night, ABC11 spoke with Wake County resident Jennifer Dzielak, who lived in New Hampshire and knows about winter weather.
"Black ice is a kicker, so I hope everyone drives safely," Dzielak said.
Dzielak said she was ready for the storm.
ALSO SEE: Snow, sleet, freezing rain in the forecast as winter storm heads to central NC
In the sandhills, Lowe's Hardware store manager Nate Potter shared tips for people in Fayetteville.
"We want to make sure that we're available before, during, and after for people to take care of their homes and the people they care about," said Potter.
When it comes to your home, Potter said the biggest concern during winter weather is pipes. Items like protectors should be placed over any exposed spigots or sprinkler systems.
"We want to avoid busted pipes. We want to avoid the damage that can cause even an eighth-inch crack in a pipe. It can burst out up to 250 gallons of water in just a day. So definitely make sure that any exposed or unheated areas of pipe are wrapped. We do want to also make sure that if the weather is going to drop below freezing, we turn our water on to a slow drip," said Potter.