Avoiding The (Shopping) Nightmare Before Christmas: Local Retailers Brace For Holiday Shortages
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — The holiday decorations are already coming out. That's why some Old Sacramento retailers got in the holiday spirit early to avoid what is becoming the nightmare before Christmas: getting the gifts onto store shelves.
"There is some candy we have difficulty getting," said Heather Music, who has worked at Candy Heaven for a decade.
Music has never seen supply chain issues like what she's dealt with during COVID-19.
"Things like the Hot Tamales, or Mike and Ikes, those ones they had an issue for six to eight months. They just were not making them at all," Music said.
When it comes to select brands, they are at the mercy of the distributors.
"Sometimes it's in a warehouse, sometimes we just don't know," Music said. "So when somebody asks, 'Do you have so and so's specific product?' We have it ordered, but we can't tell you when we are going to get it, unfortunately."
At Stage Nine a few doors down, Troy Carlson wasn't playing around when it came to stocking up for the holidays.
"The last couple years have shown you have to be flexible and change with the times," he said.
Above the store, their stockroom is filled from floor to ceiling with boxes with a separate warehouse off-site.
This year, Carlson also turned office space into more storage.
"This is all the same line. It's one of our top vendors in Stage Nine called Lounge Fly," Carlson said as he opened the door.
Confident people will find their holiday bag because they got a good handle on inventory early.
"We kind of took a gamble and said, 'Let's put big orders in.' And we're just going to hope we made the right decision and now we're thankful we did that," Carlson said.
Music says it's a sticky situation moving forward in the candy world.
"One can only hope it will improve. So we will see how next year starts," Music said.