Yellowknife (Nov 15/06) - Brian Peers heads straight toward the shovel aisle at Canadian Tire on Monday.

Outside, the streets are piled high with snow, as fresh flakes float from the sky.

For many shovel shoppers in Yellowknife, the perfect tool takes hours to find. But three year-old Myja Semmler came to Canadian Tire Monday for the sole purpose of acquiring this Princess shovel. - Peter Crnogorac/NNSL photo

He stops in front of the vast rows of shovels.

"I'm looking for a big scoop," he says, as his eyes dart from row to row of the average size shovels.

"Oh man," he whispers. "No big scoops."

With that, he's off to the next store in search of his perfect shovel.

In our consumer culture, the snow shovel -- like almost anything else you can buy these days -- comes in all shapes, sizes and uses.

And for Yellowknife shoppers, this is a good thing because everyone seems to have a preference.

"The plastic green and blue shovels with the bent handles are the top sellers," says Jeremie Godin, Canadian Tire's customer service snow shovel expert.

"But people like the big scoop push shovel, which has sold out," he adds.

Another big seller is the Yardworks two-in-one chopper/pusher, bent handle shovel.

Godin explains that the plastic scoop can be snapped off, and the handle comes free exposing a chopper at the end.

You can then chop-up any ice on your driveway and sidewalk before placing the plastic scoop back on the handle to shovel the ice away.

As Godin continues talking about the variety of shovels, Lisa Semmler and her three-year-old daughter Myja enter the isle.

"There's your shovel," Lisa says.

Myja walks directly to a pile of small shovels with Princess designs on them.

The little girl grabs a shovel and begins to get rid of the imaginary snow that has piled up in the aisle.

"Daddy doesn't get the day off work today, so we have to do the shovelling," explains Lisa. "And this morning when we got up, her little red shovel was buried under the snow."

It's obvious Yellowknifers have their preferences when it comes to the nuances of the snow shovel, but which is the most practical kind?

"The ones made out of hard plastic are the best," says Roland Hiesnger, a professional shoveler who was cleaning the sidewalk in front of Centre Square Mall on Monday.

"But the ones with the metal pieces on the shovels are annoying. It tends to get caught in the cracks of the sidewalk."

Proving this, he raises his shovel and points to the metal piece with its mangled and jagged edges protruding slightly outward at each end.

"See," he says.