Shop and buy early because holiday décor and Thanksgiving turkeys are becoming harder to get -- that's the advice this year as business owners and consumers both tackle supply chain challenges.
At Decorators Warehouse in Arlington, a place with more than 60,000 square feet of nothing but Christmas décor, the owners said they're holding up well.
Dave Hanson said he and his wife ordered merchandise early in anticipation that it might be a bad year. At this point, they said they're fortunate by having a good amount of supply, for now.
“It’s a crazy year,” said Hanson. “I’ve been doing this 35 years, never seen anything like what’s occurring right now, from the supply change all around the world right now, up to our shelves. It’s just a really incredibly difficult time right now."
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Hanson said there's simply not a lot to choose from. In fact, he said, it's going to be very difficult to get new products going forward.
"We're definitely selling out of a lot of product. We buy a lot of product," said Hanson. "I have another 100,000 square foot warehouse that we bring stuff into for the season. But yeah, this is going to be a very scarce season, we're starting to run out of a great many of our items."
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, frozen turkey inventories are 24% below their 3-year average. Turkeys are still available, but getting them to stores has been the biggest issue due to the break in the supply chain. Experts said some of us might have better luck finding the right turkey this year from smaller, locally-owned meat markets, versus a larger grocery store. The mom-and-pop meat shops mostly rely on local farmers who aren't impacted as much by a global supply shortage.
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Aside from starting your holiday shopping early, it's also recommended that you call ahead to ask if stores have the items you're looking for and check back in to see if items have arrived.
Hanson suggested, if you can, enjoy what you already have in your home, and rethink how you decorate this holiday season.
