Markets closed mixed Friday a day after dueling court rulings dealing with the tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump in April. Wednesday, a U.S. trade court ruled the president exceeded his authority in ordering the tariffs; Thursday, an appeals court reinstated the tariffs while considers the government's appeal.
At What's Poppin' Texas in Bedford, Owner Sue Schulz says she has no choice but to buy some products from overseas.
"Popcorn tins are just a no-brainer," she says. "The aluminum comes from overseas; we don't make it in the United States. Even if they do, it's going to be two or three years down the road before they can start making that very thin steel."
She says small businesses are less likely to turn the same volume as larger places, so she has less power to negotiate with suppliers. She says some oils she uses have increased $10; some cheeses have increased $20 per pound.
"They don't go away. That's the thing: price doesn't go away," she says. "If the tariffs stop, my vendor's not going to go, 'Oh, let me drop the price.' That's not going to happen. It just kind of trickles down the chain."
Schulz says she works with candy makers in the United States, but some of the ingredients they use come from other countries.
"They're struggling to get it, and of course, the cost has gone way up," she says. "You've eaten malted milk balls since you were kid, right? For the past four or five months, we couldn't get them because one of the ingredients that makes the center comes from overseas. People don't realize, when you backtrack, what has to go right to get something on the shelf."
Schulz sells popcorn, candy and chocolate. She went into business for herself after managing hair salons for years.
"I said, 'When I retire, I want to do something fun,' so when I retired I wanted to open a popcorn store," she says. "It's held true. People, they might be grumpy when they come in, but they're not grumpy when they leave."
Schulz says she sells more than 70 flavors of popcorn made in the store. She makes fudge and says about 80% of the chocolate she sells is made in-house.
What's Poppin' Texas sells sodas not available at larger stores like Nehi and RC. Schulz says sodas from Mexico are also popular because they are made with sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup. She says tariffs may force her to increase prices because she cannot absorb the cost herself.
"We're really watching our profit margin right now to see how the tariffs are affecting them, but it is going to roll off onto the customer. You just have to," she says.
As a small business, Schulz says she sees a lot of the same customers and gets to know them. In turn, those customers will be more sensitive to changes in price.
"I have to be very careful," she says. "We did raise the price a dollar per pound on our chocolates. We just had to."
Schulz says she and other small businesses in the Mid-Cities are communicating with each other in search of ways to reduce the impact on customers. Even outside of tariffs, she says chocolate has become more expensive because weather affected cocoa crops in parts of the world. She says popcorn is becoming more expensive as the cost of the farming workforce has increase, and she has considered different types of sugar to save money while not affecting the product.
"I'm looking at things I didn't ever think I would look at," she says. "We're really keeping the ear to the ground. 'How are you managing this so you don't have to pass those costs to the consumer?'"
Schulz also active within the HEB Chamber of Commerce, She says business compete with each other, but they are also communicating more so they might work together to buy some ingredients in bulk to save money.
What's Poppin' Texas is located on Central Drive in Bedford. More information is available at https://whatspoppintexas.com/.