In the pre-holiday scramble, small businesses see a little bit of supply chain relief
In the pre-holiday scramble, small businesses see a little bit of supply chain relief
Although inflation has been running persistently high — minus food and gas, it was 6.6% year over year in September, as measured by the consumer price index — there are signs that supply chain pressures might be easing.
Small retailers are seeing some of that. Phillip Rollins, the owner of the record, comic and apparel store OffBeat in Jackson, Mississippi, said his costs have been stable recently.
“As far as costs, there hasn’t been a big change per se,” Rollins said. “We’ve kind of minimized costs by switching to a new printer for our apparel line. Everything else has pretty much stayed kind of the same since last month.”
Rollins chief concern has been moving his store to a new location in downtown Jackson. “I’m still kind of getting settled in at the new location,” he said. “We only been open a week now. I’m really looking forward to seeing what the future holds for us here at this location.”
For Irene Kesselman, owner of Ali Cat Toys in Carrboro, North Carolina, prices are continuing to go up, but there is some relief on the horizon.
“A lot of us have been paying exorbitant freight for the past couple of years,” Kesselman said. “But just in the past couple of weeks, [I have seen] two vendors in particular state that they will be dropping the surcharge that they have charged for the past year and a half, effective in 2023.”
But for Annie Lang Hartman, the owner of Michigan retailer Wild Lettie, which sells greeting cards and outdoor gear, prices have not been a big concern.
“I think we are a small business anomaly as far as not having to increase prices,” Lang Hartman said. “A few things have increased for us, but only by a penny or two per product.”
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