Pandemic replay — thanks to pollution from wildfires, masks again are a must-have item
<p>Chicagoans dashed into stores across the city Thursday to get what they needed to protect their lungs from <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/weather/2026/07/16/wildfire-smoke-prompts-air-quality-alert-for-most-of-chicago-area-to" >dangerous pollution levels caused by Canadian wildfire smoke</a>.</p><p>Elizabeth Keough, assistant manager at the Crafty Beaver Home Center in Uptown, said store traffic Thursday was a lot busier than expected given the rough conditions outside.</p><p>“We’re selling so many air filters, getting a little cleared out of masks as well,” Keough said.</p><p>Jin Kim, co-owner of Kim’s Hardware, said he similarly saw a “massive uptick.</p><p>Last week he ordered 200 of the cheaper, if less effective, KN95 masks even without having seen the news of the wildfires. Even then, single-packs of pricier N95 masks equipped with valves were the hottest commodity, prompting him to order still more of those.</p><p>“Since COVID when hardware stores were the only stores open, we were the only ones carrying the masks,” Kim said.
Reported by 1 outlet — Chicago Sun-Times. See all sources ↓
<p>Chicagoans dashed into stores across the city Thursday to get what they needed to protect their lungs from <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/weather/2026/07/16/wildfire-smoke-prompts-air-quality-alert-for-most-of-chicago-area-to" >dangerous pollution levels caused by Canadian wildfire smoke</a>.</p><p>Elizabeth Keough, assistant manager at the Crafty Beaver Home Center in Uptown, said store traffic Thursday was a lot busier than expected given the rough conditions outside.</p><p>“We’re selling so many air filters, getting a little cleared out of masks as well,” Keough said.</p><p>Jin Kim, co-owner of Kim’s Hardware, said he similarly saw a “massive uptick.</p><p>Last week he ordered 200 of the cheaper, if less effective, KN95 masks even without having seen the news of the wildfires. Even then, single-packs of pricier N95 masks equipped with valves were the hottest commodity, prompting him to order still more of those.</p><p>“Since COVID when hardware stores were the only stores open, we were the only ones carrying the masks,” Kim said. … I do plan on picking up more, we’ve already blown through some of the inventory i picked up this morning.”</p><div class="Enhancement" data-align-center> <div class="Enhancement-item" data-crop=""> <figure class="Figure"><a class="AnchorLink" id="image-c40000" name="image-c40000"></a> <picture data-crop="medium"> <source type="image/webp" width="490" height="275" data-srcset="https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/17dd82e/2147483647/strip/true/crop/6000x3367+0+316/resize/490x275!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F6d%2F68%2F756545c647cfa2aa0f1f0769d401%2Fairside-071626-kim-hardware.JPG 1x,https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/b3bbfc7/2147483647/strip/true/crop/6000x3367+0+316/resize/980x550!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F6d%2F68%2F756545c647cfa2aa0f1f0769d401%2Fairside-071626-kim-hardware.JPG 2x" data-lazy-load="true" srcset="data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZlcnNpb249IjEuMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIyNzVweCIgd2lkdGg9IjQ5MHB4Ij48L3N2Zz4=" /> <source width="490" height="275" data-srcset="https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/8b61c6c/2147483647/strip/true/crop/6000x3367+0+316/resize/490x275!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F6d%2F68%2F756545c647cfa2aa0f1f0769d401%2Fairside-071626-kim-hardware.JPG" data-lazy-load="true" srcset="data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZlcnNpb249IjEuMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIyNzVweCIgd2lkdGg9IjQ5MHB4Ij48L3N2Zz4=" /> <img class="Image" alt="Jin Kim, co-owner of Kim’s Hardware, sells a pack of KN95 masks to a customer at his North Side store on Thursday, July 16, 2026. " srcset="https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/8b61c6c/2147483647/strip/true/crop/6000x3367+0+316/resize/490x275!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F6d%2F68%2F756545c647cfa2aa0f1f0769d401%2Fairside-071626-kim-hardware.JPG 1x,https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/1bd2b48/2147483647/strip/true/crop/6000x3367+0+316/resize/980x550!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F6d%2F68%2F756545c647cfa2aa0f1f0769d401%2Fairside-071626-kim-hardware.JPG 2x" width="490" height="275" data-src="https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/8b61c6c/2147483647/strip/true/crop/6000x3367+0+316/resize/490x275!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F6d%2F68%2F756545c647cfa2aa0f1f0769d401%2Fairside-071626-kim-hardware.JPG" data-lazy-load="true" src="data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZlcnNpb249IjEuMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIyNzVweCIgd2lkdGg9IjQ5MHB4Ij48L3N2Zz4=" > </picture> <div class="Figure-content"><figcaption class="Figure-caption"><p>Jin Kim, co-owner of Kim’s Hardware, sells a pack of KN95 masks to a customer at his North Side store on Thursday.
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- What's the story?
- <p>Chicagoans dashed into stores across the city Thursday to get what they needed to protect their lungs from <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/weather/2026/07/16/wildfire-smoke-prompts-air-quality-alert-for-most-of-chicago-area-to" >dangerous pollution levels caused by Canadian wildfire smoke</a>.</p><p>Elizabeth Keough, assistant manager at the Crafty Beaver Home Center in Uptown, said store traffic Thursday was a lot busier than expected given the rough conditions outside.</p><p>“We’re selling so many air filters, getting a little cleared out of masks as well,” Keough said.</p><p>Jin Kim, co-owner of Kim’s Hardware, said he similarly saw a “massive uptick.</p><p>Last week he ordered 200 of the cheaper, if less effective, KN95 masks even without having seen the news of the wildfires. Even then, single-packs of pricier N95 masks equipped with valves were the hottest commodity, prompting him to order still more of those.</p><p>“Since COVID when hardware stores were the only stores open, we were the only ones carrying the masks,” Kim said.
- How widely is it covered?
- 1 outlet, average source rating 6.0/10.
- When was it last updated?
- 10m ago.
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Pandemic replay — thanks to pollution from wildfires, masks again are a must-have item
Sources1TypeCoverageChicago Sun-Times