CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Demand for toys is at an all-time high and retailers like Building Blocks Toy Store in Chicago are struggling with nationwide shipping snarls ahead of the holiday season.
“It's literally like the wild, wild west of what's in stock; what's coming, what's not coming,” said owner Katherine Nguyen. “I’m ordering larger quantities, larger dollar amounts of things, just throwing everything against the wall and hoping some things are going to stick.”
Nguyen said she had been hoarding merchandise just to keep toys on the shelves of her three locations.
She told WBBM Newsradio she hasn’t experienced this type of chaotic buying pattern in 25 years, and it wasn’t cheap.
“I'm out of money, I've got a line of credit and I'm also out of space,” said Nguyen. “I had to increase storage space and look for ways to store the products that I'm racking up.”
That included sleds, which are expected to be in high demand this winter.
Building Blocks Toy Store’s normal sled vendor doesn’t have any product available this year, which left Nguyen scrambling.
“Luckily, I found a vendor who has sleds coming in a few weeks,” said Nguyen. “I asked him what was not committed and I took all of it with the exception that he would warehouse it and ship [them] to me in increments because I literally don't have any idea where I'm going to put 200 sleds in the month of October.”
The uncertainty created by supply chain issues means hot ticket toys will be harder to come by this holiday season.
Nguyen said her winter toy catalog is already printed, but 15-20 percent of what’s listed won’t be available.
“We won't have those styles. We won't have those specific colors. We'll have to substitute things because we just couldn't get the inventory,” she said.
Her advice as we head into the holidays?
Buyers are going to have to shop early, change their mindset and be a bit more flexible when purchasing toys.
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