“Buy it when you see it.” Retailers dread holiday shortages

NEW YORK (AP) —

The Perfect Pigg, a gift shop owned by Ginger Pigg, is the go-to place for residents of Cumming, Georgia, to pick up gift items like kids toys and home goods.

But this year, store shelves might be a little sparse. Because of bottlenecks in the global supply chain, many stores like Pigg’s are scrambling to try to get all the inventory they can ahead of the crucial holiday shopping season.

“I’m a little stressed,” said Pigg, who has about 60% of the Christmas inventory she usually has at this time. Some stock she ordered in July hasn’t arrived yet. “I feel like I’ve done everything I could do,” she said. “I’m hoping and praying it all comes in.”

The global supply chain has been buffeted by a multitude of problems, from factories having to close due to COVID-19 surges, a lack of containers to ship items in, backups at ports and warehouses, and a shortage of truckers.

While bigger retailers like Walmart and Target have the power to buy their own containers, use air freight and take other steps to make sure they get inventory, smaller retailers are at the mercy of their vendors, who are increasingly suspending delivery guarantees and sometimes not communicating at all.

For Pigg, a pepper jelly she sells usually has a two-week turnaround time; now it takes four to six weeks to arrive, with no guarantee it will arrive at all. An order she placed for the jelly in July got delivered in October. And she’s having trouble getting miscellaneous things, like shopping bags, and candles, due to shortages of the wicks and glass jars the candles come in.

“It’s just been one thing after another,” she said.

Last year, Renee Silverman, owner of Irv’s Luggage in Vernon, Illinois, didn’t buy luggage ahead of the holidays – no one was traveling. This year, people are...