Local businesses navigating through tough supply shortages

Local businesses all across the Northand seem to be experiencing one type of shortage or another.

Local grocers noticing shortages in things like bottled water or bottled spices, floral shops like Flora North short are on roses, Frost river finding is finding hard to find high quality leather, and at Trail Fitters, footwear is in short supply.

Trail Fitters Assistant Manager Sam Brueggeman says, "At this point we are just trying to have enough to keep the store stocked. And I think we are doing a pretty good job right now but it’s definitely a challenge."

Their experience has been very similar to the rest of the Northland. Sam says, “Some issues are getting the things that we have ordered and then some they just don’t have things available to us. So we are trying to find you know alternatives basically."

The problem seems to stem from manufactures and vendors that businesses purchase from. According to Brueggeman, “I think a lot of it has to do with the manufacturers and how they planned leading up to all of this before for the supply chain issue. And so the ones that were better planned out ahead I think are having less issues, versus the ones that didn’t plan as well."

Planning ahead is just one of the new strategies that business have had to implement. For smaller stores it’s easier to find different vendors compared to the larger stores. Brueggeman says, “It’s just a matter of being agile, adapting, and making sure we have enough product to accommodate our customers."

As for what could go short next… well businesses say it’s unpredictable. “Yeah it pretty much just random”, The Assistant Manager says, “You know sometimes we will be good on one item for a couple months and after another month we’ll have trouble getting it.”

And while shortages don’t mean barren stores, it still has been hard to remain fully stocked. And stores are predicting this trend to continue on through the year.

“It seems like it’s going to continue from what I’m hearing from all of our vendors that it’s certainly going to continue the shortages are going to only worse I think as we get towards Christmas here,” says Brueggeman.