Working With Supply Chain Shortages

Discount, variety, and general store retailers have faced the same challenges with getting inventory due to supply chain shortages and disruptions as other business owners. They’ve found ways to work with the challenges and keep their shelves stocked.

“Last year was sort of tough,” said Winter Harbor 5&10 in Winter Harbor, Maine’s Owner Peter Drinkwater

“We kind of cleaned out our basement. We kept bringing stuff out, putting out whatever we could. We hardly had any inventory by the end of the season. At the beginning of the season, there were some companies I didn’t get things from. We went to the shows and ordered a bunch of inventory. [I] diversify across vendors and work with several vendors.” Drinkwater stressed the importance of trade shows and keeping up with the industry. “I’ve seen other stores my size who didn’t go to shows or buy new products, and they went out of business. Next year will be our 50th year in business. We’re lucky—the nearest big box store is about half an hour away, so there’s not a whole lot of competition around here. Summer folks and residents have been loyal to us and shop here.”

Co-Owner Don Vidler of Vidler’s 5&10 in East Au-

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Working With Supply

(From page 106) rora, N.Y., said he and his team stay in contact with their reps about lead times and delivery times. “There’s not a whole lot we can do about it,” he said. “We’re paying the surcharges and fuel surcharges. We haven’t changed our ordering for the most part—we’re ordering as we need it and live with the delivery times they give us.”

Elaine J. Painting, manager of Ashton’s 5&10 in Carrollton, Ohio, said the supply chain challenges have changed her mindset about buying. “We still don’t have many of our fall/Halloween items. Last year at Christmas, we had a bunch of stuff that came in at Christmas. I didn’t even bother putting it out; I just put it on the inventory and decided to wait until this year. We really don’t know what to expect. But we’re all in the same boat. We have to be cautious about what we’re doing this year. I used to get large quantities of certain items—now I’ll get smaller quantities if I know we’ll get them in.”

At Seneca Variety in Seneca, Kan., Owner Dona Willmeth said it is getting better with some of the merchandise she has ordered. “Last year I had one vendor say to me in December, ‘we finally got in the rest of your Christmas [merchandise]. Do you want it?’ I said yes. This year has been better. I got my Christmas merchandise in before my fall; I still have some fall stuff coming, some Christmas stuff coming. Fabric was hard to get for awhile, but now that’s better. All the vendors are trying very hard to turn it all around. For awhile I couldn’t get things—the strangest thing would be, for months and months something would be on backorder or I couldn’t get it. Now things are slowly but surely getting better.” ❖