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Consumer Reports: How to avoid delays and shortages this holiday season

WEST ROXBURY, Mass. — West Roxbury hardware store manager Steve Meranda ordered a large shipment of Christmas lights back in March. Eight months later, the lights still haven’t been delivered to his shop.

“We don’t have anything in overstock,” Meranda said. “When this is sold, we’re out.”

Christmas decorations are 10% of his store’s December sales, so his bottom line is taking a hit. But Meranda said there’s also a handful of other products that have been back-ordered for more than a year.

“There are some items that we’ve been waiting on for 365-400 days that still haven’t come in,” he said. “It makes a big difference because our sales start suffering and obviously we don’t want to send customers away because they remember that.”

The global supply chain shortage is impacting all businesses and it’s adding more anxiety to the holiday shopping season.

“I’ve been saying this is the year of creativity, of patience,” said Consumer Reports reporter Octavio Blanco.

Blanco wrote an article last month with ways to get around delays and shortages this holiday season:

  • Shop at small, locally-owned businesses because they may have items the big box stores don’t
  • “Spread out the joy,” Octavio said, and sign someone up for monthly subscription boxes for books, clothing or games
  • Go digital by giving the gift of a music or video streaming service

>>>MORE: Click here for more alternative gift suggestions from Consumer Reports

If all else fails, Blanco said you could always go with the old holiday standby, a gift card. According to Consumer Reports, 41% of U.S. adults said they would rather receive a gift card than a physical gift.

“Maybe it’s the year you’re going to think about what’s meaningful to you and your family,” Blanco said. “The things are going to come, they may just not come in time. You may have to wait for them. Take it as an opportunity to practice patience.”

Boston College economics professor Peter Ireland said while the overall economy is rebounding from the COVID-19 pandemic, the delays caused by supply-chain shortages may be with us for some time.

“It’s guesswork at this stage. The consensus seems to be as we head into 2022 things will continue to improve. I hope so. But if you’re talking about the Christmas season, I think this is unfortunately what we’re going to have to live with for the next several months,” Ireland said.

The shelves are full inside the Kids R Kids toy story on Centre Street, but what you see is what you get. Owner Maria Toffoloni said there’s no backstock.

“My big orders are done, so it’s whatever is here at the moment. Once this is gone, it’s gone,” she said.

In a normal year, Toffoloni said she places her Christmas orders over the summer, but this year her vendors told her to begin ordering shipments in February. If she waited much longer than that, she was told her holiday toys may not have arrived in time.

“The hard to find items? It’s just about everything, in all honesty,” Toffoloni said. “We started telling our consumers back in August, start doing your Christmas shopping now.”