By Liam Fenwick, Reporter
The holiday shopping season brings an increase of business for local Omaha gift shops. Many gift shop owners are having a difficult time preparing for the season because of supply chain shortages.
Vicki Petz is the owner of the Papillion gift shop, Mariposa. The shop sells home decor and other accessory products.
Petz said that her business has gotten off to a rough start to the holiday shopping season.
“Difficulties right now are getting the product in, you know, the shortage with the trucks and shipping. But we are making progress on that. We do a lot of advertising to get people in,” Petz said.
A shortage of truck drivers has contributed to the retail supply shortage. According to the Journal of Commerce Online, the amount of truck drivers available for work has slowly decreased since the summer of 2019.
Petz isn’t the only local business owner that has had a slow start to the holiday shopping season. Other local gift shop owners have encountered some of the same issues.
Boyd Redinbaugh is the owner of the men’s gift shop, The Simple Man, in Omaha. Redinbaugh said getting products into his store has been difficult.
“For us as a small business, this especially… getting product in has been a challenge. One of the largest challenges is to meet the customer service needs of all the customers when the inventory is low.” Redinbaugh said.
Both Petz and Redinbaugh said they will continue to do their best to prepare for the holiday season even with the challenges they have encountered.
