Local gift, toy stores navigate supply chain issues heading into holiday season

Oct. 31—Just a month away from the peak weeks of holiday shopping season, some Norman business owners say they still experience incomplete order fulfillments and difficulty getting certain items in as backed up container ships continue to congest ports and factories have limited access to raw materials.

According to The Toy Association, the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, Calif., have moved to nonstop operations in an attempt to alleviate continued delays at two of the country's largest shipping entry points. Around 40% of U.S. imports are estimated to be delivered through the two ports, the association reports.

"There's around 70 vessels outside the Port of Long Beach with an estimated 500,000 containers, and unfortunately, that's where almost every bit of our merchandise comes through," said HobbyTown owner Gary Cahill.

Cahill said those looking to purchase toys at his store should try to get their shopping done early.

"What I do have in stock, I have no reliable restock guarantee, so if you're in a market for stuff in our categories, I would not delay too long," he said.

Cahill said the Radio Shack Express portion of their store is seeing many outages, as their product is sourced out of China. Their RC selection, one of HobbyTown's specialties, currently has a limited selection.

In recent weeks, Cahill has had luck getting some RC items through Traxxas, their closest distributor in McKinney, Texas. He said competition with distributors looking to capitalize on the pandemic e-commerce surge is possibly the most difficult part of the ordering process.

"If they want to be on Amazon, they need a certain amount of guaranteed inventory, which means some of them have inventory, but won't send us any because it would take them below their threshold," Cahill said.

Dena Deveraux, manager of Kidoodle's Toy Zone, said a considerable amount of items on their orders aren't coming in. Normally, Deveraux said the store's owners go through a manufacturer order form and order what they prefer, but this fall, they are just ordering what they can.

"It's all across the board, really," Deveraux said. "A lot of stuff that's in our Christmas catalog is not going to be available."

Deveraux said they have had a significant amount of difficulty ordering handheld arcade games, likely because of the ongoing computer chip shortage.

Cahill has less difficulty getting exclusive lines, but said certain high-demand items like Gundam toys made in Japan present more of a challenge. Gundam models, based on the animated TV show franchise, are among the hardest-to-find items, Cahill said.

Cahiill said he tries to compensate for his shortage of Gundam models by ordering more toys in other categories and filling the empty space at his store until more arrive.

Cahill has stocked other items, like Play-Doh, ahead of the holiday season. In a financial earnings report released last week, Hasbro interim CEO Rich Stoddart said they continue to work to meet the consumer demand for Hasbro's brands. Deborah Thomas, the company's chief financial officer, said they have delivered a majority of what was delayed in the third quarter despite continued supply chain issues.

Cahill isn't the only Norman business owner stocking up on goods ahead of the holidays. Jennifer Austin, owner of Occasions Fine Stationery and Gifts, said she foresaw a potential problem with shipping closer to the season and ordered extra stock and gift items in July and August.

"We're still waiting on some things, but for the most part, we are pretty well stocked because we let them ship things early," Austin said. "Maybe one company can get us 10 things we ordered, but the 11th and 12th are still stuck on a ship, but it's just individual items, not entire lines."

Despite his efforts, Cahill still expects his stock will reflect ongoing supply chain issues this holiday season.

"It's gonna be a little bit more slim than we would have hoped for," he said.

Jeff Elkins covers business, living and community stories for The Transcript. Reach him at jelkins@normantranscript.com or at @JeffElkins12 on Twitter.