Businesses in Haywood County are feeling the effects of the national supply chain issues currently plaguing the country.
Staff shortages, closing factories, high consumer demand, port congestion, increasing gas prices — the list goes on.
A perfect storm of problems has wreaked havoc on the national economy, with business owners and shoppers noticing the ill-effects. Haywood County is not immune, either.
From canceled or delayed shipments to the lack of merchandise to sell, business owners are shifting their practices to overcome problems created by the supply chain issues. Here are two specific instances in Haywood that illustrate how shortages are playing out locally.
Keeping it stocked
Jessica Garrick, a mother of four who owns Southern Loft in Waynesville, noticed in July that business was about to take a hit.
Along with canceled shipments from suppliers during the summer, she noticed extended delays in the shipments that she actually received from vendors.
“We would order stuff in June or July and wouldn’t get it until October or November,” said Garrick.
Southern Loft is a seasonal women’s clothing store, so Garrick was stuck with out-of-season summer products much of the time that she’s hoping will sell next season.
Offering custom T-shirts, Southern Loft has had a difficult time even getting blank T-shirts.
“T-shirts come in bulk, so I’ll order 80 shirts and find out the colors are gone, sizes are gone. And it’s because the suppliers can’t get to the warehouses to distribute those,” said Garrick.
As a result, Southern Loft has scaled back on its custom products until it can get more on-hand merchandise from vendors.
The supply problems even extends to the check-out process. Garrick said ordering specific bags to hold customer purchases has become a problem. Suppliers say that they’ll have to ship those out in the coming weeks or months.
“We need bags to package orders,” said Garrick, “We don’t want to give [customers] plastic ‘thank you’ bags. It’s an experience. We want them to have a nice bag with the sticker on it. When you don’t have them, it’s not good.”
As a result of the delays and cancellations, Garrick has switched vendors on multiple products in an effort to keep her store stocked.
“I’ll order in from two or three companies to get my supplies in,” said Garrick.
And Garrick believes the worst may be yet to come.
A lot of inventory has been shipped because it was in the warehouse already, but once those warehouses run out of stock, retailers may be left empty-handed.
“Over the past six months, [vendors] have been depleting themselves and now there’s nothing left to give,” said Garrick, “I think we’ll see more problems with our clothing side of it coming up.”
Empty lots
Drivers traveling Russ Avenue may have noticed the car lots emptier than usual, too.
Gene Horne and Gordon Prince, managers at Taylor Ford in Waynesville, say their dealership is down 80-100 cars from where it should be.
The cause of the new car shortage is the lack of microchips used to control them. And it’s not an issue that’s going to be resolved anytime soon. The microchip shortage has become a global issue.
For new orders, customers can expect to wait up to four months for their vehicle to arrive.
“Waiting times have doubled,” said Horne.
Horne says that there are lots of new vehicles sitting at the Ford plants here in the U.S. waiting on chips.
“I ordered a transit van for a business customer over six months ago,” said Prince. “And for a Ford Ranger, you can expect 10-14 weeks.”
To make ends meet, and to satisfy customer demands, Horne and Prince have turned to the used car market to fill the gaps in their inventory. In response, the used car market has exploded.
“A lot of people have no idea they’re sitting on a goldmine,” said Horne.
Used car owners can just about get their money back if they’re willing to part with a used car, truck or SUV.
While they are seeing an uptick in what they’re getting, the empty lot at Taylor Ford usually filled with brand new Ford vehicles is a telltale sign of a formerly lucrative supply chain gone awry.
“You can’t sell what you don’t have,” said Horne.
