One small business in Richmond Hill is feeling the big impacts of the supply chain crisis. Bone Island Dog Spa owner Katelyn McDonnell says this is nothing new for her business.”When we opened this place a year ago and I needed to get a tub, I couldn’t find a tub anywhere,” McDonnell said.By luck, McDonnell ended up finding a tub to open up her business, but now, it’s other everyday supplies that are getting harder to find. “Like clipper blades, which we use every day, there aren’t any available. We either have to wait several months to get them to get our average price or we are seeing price gouging where the clipper blade with be 50 or 70 dollars and then we will be able to get it right away,” McDonnell said. She continued, “when shampoo used to cost be 1,000 dollars for a year supply, it’s costing me 300-400 dollars for a month’s supply.”McDonnell has even had to get creative with the accessories she gives dogs once their services are done. “The cost of where I would buy these (accessories) from has doubled. So where I used to pay to buy them from someone who would make them, I can’t afford to buy them from her because her cost has gone up so much,” McDonnell said. McDonnell has increased her prices slightly to compensate for the rising cost of supplies. She says while she’s losing money from her profit margin, it’s the customers that matter most to her. “Their safety, their well-being, and the care of their dogs it means more to me than the money we’re making.”McDonnell says she has a customer who works at the ports and they believe the supply chain crisis isn’t getting any better anytime soon. She added that she is doing a lot of bulk ordering to make sure she can keep her business up and running in the event it gets to the point that supplies aren’t available at all.
One small business in Richmond Hill is feeling the big impacts of the supply chain crisis. Bone Island Dog Spa owner Katelyn McDonnell says this is nothing new for her business.
“When we opened this place a year ago and I needed to get a tub, I couldn’t find a tub anywhere,” McDonnell said.
By luck, McDonnell ended up finding a tub to open up her business, but now, it’s other everyday supplies that are getting harder to find.
“Like clipper blades, which we use every day, there aren’t any available. We either have to wait several months to get them to get our average price or we are seeing price gouging where the clipper blade with be 50 or 70 dollars and then we will be able to get it right away,” McDonnell said.
She continued, “when shampoo used to cost be 1,000 dollars for a year supply, it’s costing me 300-400 dollars for a month’s supply.”
McDonnell has even had to get creative with the accessories she gives dogs once their services are done. “The cost of where I would buy these (accessories) from has doubled. So where I used to pay to buy them from someone who would make them, I can’t afford to buy them from her because her cost has gone up so much,” McDonnell said.
McDonnell has increased her prices slightly to compensate for the rising cost of supplies. She says while she’s losing money from her profit margin, it’s the customers that matter most to her.
“Their safety, their well-being, and the care of their dogs it means more to me than the money we’re making.”
McDonnell says she has a customer who works at the ports and they believe the supply chain crisis isn’t getting any better anytime soon. She added that she is doing a lot of bulk ordering to make sure she can keep her business up and running in the event it gets to the point that supplies aren’t available at all.
