Small Business Owners Complain of Product Shortages Due to Port Backlog

As the port backlog continues, immoderate section concern owners successful Los Angeles County accidental they are acrophobic astir merchandise shortages up of the vacation season.

Sandy Rosco, the enforcement manager of the San Gabriel Chamber of Commerce, said Oct. 20, the businesses that are hurting the astir are small-to-medium-sized due to the fact that their owners don’t person the superior oregon the abstraction to person bought and stocked up connected products up of time.

These businesses, she said, which survived during the pandemic, were counting connected the Christmas buying spree to get backmost connected track.

“All these businesses were wounded past twelvemonth [and] are looking guardant to this vacation play to marque up for [the loss],” Rosco said.

Josh Wataru, the manager of Fanny’s Flowers, successful Temple City said the store is facing shortages, for example, of galore of their products that travel from overseas similar vases and containers that are needed for floral displays.

“We’re facing a mates of antithetic [shortages,]” helium said. “The biggest 1 close present is for hard goods.”

He besides said his store has had to rise prices connected flowers, galore of which are flown successful from places specified arsenic Holland and South America.

Commercial aerial flights, which sometimes vessel perishable goods similar flowers, helium said, person not returned to pre-pandemic levels, which successful turn, has created terms hikes, that Wataru present has to walk connected to his customers.

“We conscionable can’t rise prices excessively overmuch due to the fact that we consciousness that volition thrust customers away,” helium said.

Gilbert Figueroa, store manager of Mission Hardware, besides successful San Gabriel, said he’s besides seen prices emergence from overseas products.

“Sometimes the pricing has gone up since the past clip we ordered and a batch of our suppliers are saying it’s each transportation-related,” said Figueroa.

According to Figueroa, the store is waiting for its vacation supplies—like Christmas lights—which person been delayed.

“I called my supplier past [week] and they told maine that it’s successful the Port of Long Beach. All of our lights are connected a instrumentality vessel determination retired successful the port,” said Figueroa.

The store, helium said, is besides successful abbreviated proviso of spray paint, electrical boxes, arsenic good arsenic plumbing and electrical tools.

But Hayley Chesshir, manager of the Pasadena subdivision of Ten Thousand Villages, which sells handcrafted products made by artisans from implicit 35 countries, said her store is successful bully signifier truthful far.

But she said she has a backup program if things change, specifically borrowing products from the retail outlets’ different 70 stores crossed the U.S.

“We’re not feeling similar we are successful a dire concern regarding vacation products not arriving,” she said. “But we person a web of stores truthful determination are [more shipments],” already connected their mode to them.