No end in sight: Oswego small businesses pushing on despite supply chain interruptions

Steve Buresh opened the Oswego location of his Cheesecake Store & Sandwich Shop along Orchard Road on the village’s far west side in 2018.

It was an immediate hit, with customers regularly filling the shop and the drive-thru lane. But since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Buresh has made an increasing amount of changes to his menu.

When Buresh used to place an order for supplies, it normally would ship that night and arrive at his shop in just a few days.

“Now when I order, it will take three to four days for a response that a shipment has been sent, and hopefully we will get it in seven days,” he said.

Buresh’s shop and other small businesses across the country have been hindered this holiday season by interruptions in their supply chains that have affected operations and products for customers.

“The biggest issue has been the companies are waiting for product to come in, so then we wait.”

On Nov. 28, Buresh announced that the sandwich and salad items on his shop’s menu would be discontinued.

The decision was made, he said, “so I can focus all my efforts of finding items to my main store.”

“I can’t put my health at risk any longer stressing out with supply shortages and increased pricing on a daily basis,” Buresh wrote in his post. “Small-business ownership is not for the faint of heart in normal times, much less in unprecedented ones.

“COVID was never in my business plan and never even a thought in my head when I opened four years ago in Oswego. The last two years in the small-business landscape have been difficult to say the least, and some decisions have to be made whether we like them or not.”

Buresh uses high-quality items that are special orders to make his cheesecakes, sandwiches, soups, salads and other meals.

“I’ve removed my lobster rolls since prices have skyrocketed, and sometimes I couldn’t get any lobster,” he said. “I will not sacrifice quality; so if I can’t get an ingredient, it will not be offered. I was spending so much extra time sourcing that I couldn’t run the business properly.

“No one wants to pay $35 for a lobster roll.”

His customers understand the reason behind the changes, Buresh said.

“I don’t have the buying power of huge corporations, and they understand that, too,” he said. “I try to be fully staffed every day and have all items available. It makes my life very stressful.”

“The writing on the wall”

Stresses of securing inventory in time for the holidays have been felt by other Oswego small-business owners.

Leslie Hilderbrant is co-owner of the lifestyle boutique Hudson Design House in downtown Oswego, providing a mix of “new products, timeless furniture and vintage mixed in with some local artisans.”

Hilderbrant obtains her merchandise from a network of wholesale markets, buying her holiday and Christmas stock the previous January.

In the years that Hudson Design House has been open, Hilderbrant said she has never experienced shipping problems like those she has encountered this year.

“I have been fortunate that I did some strategic buys early, because I knew that the supply issue was coming,” she said, adding that she was tipped off by her wholesaler representatives.

“We had gotten notice that there [were] already supply issues, not so much supply, but even getting it over here.”

This year, Hilderbrant said, she paid between 5% and 20% in surcharges on top of her regular shipment costs. Some orders had to be canceled, she said, because they wouldn’t arrive until December, well into the holiday shopping season, but Hilderbrant was able to obtain the bulk of her orders.

“Had I bought differently, I might not be in the same situation,” she said.

Hilderbrant already has products for spring 2022 that she bought in July.

“I kind of saw the writing on the wall and was like, ‘I’m going to go out on a limb here, and purchase some extra stuff that I know I can sell at any time,’” she said.

“Domino effect”

Barb Tews co-owns The Marmalade Tree on the corner of Main and Washington streets with her husband. Christmas and holiday merchandise are placed on display in mid-October, and orders for seasonal items are placed in the prior January.

About $700 to $1,000 in ornaments from one vendor was obtained this year, a drop from the store’s usual $5,000, and about 1/4 or 1/5 of the store’s usual holiday inventory from one vendor. Christmas trees displaying ornaments and shelves covered in decor are a mix of items obtained this year and leftovers from 2020.

“The trees are getting empty because I have nothing to fill them with,” Tews said. “We were told that stuff would still come in December. But when I checked last week, they said anything that’s back-ordered, it’s just canceled, you can’t get it.”

Tews said that she would be happy to take the items for the 2022 season, but was told “It’s not an option, everything is canceled.”

“I was OK because I had surplus from last year, but not anywhere near what we ordered, and I didn’t get hardly any of the new stuff that we ordered,” she said.

Tews described the situation as a “domino effect.”

“When we ordered previously, you pay some shipping, but we’re finding that the shipping is costing four times the amount that it usually did,” she said. “Then it’s taking so much longer to get here, if it gets here at all. Then we have to charge the customers more, but then you have less customers coming.”

The Marmalade Tree closed for three months in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but was buoyed by a surge of support for small businesses. The sentiment hasn’t been reflected this year, Tews said.

“We have not seen that this year. ... This summer, the foot traffic was virtually nonexistent down here,” she said.

Regulars and groups of customers who previously visited the store didn’t come as often, or at all, as families balanced work and remote learning.

“It just didn’t come back. We just kept thinking, ‘OK, now they’re back in school, things will start picking up’ and it just never has.”

While Tews normally waits until after Christmas to order her spring goods, she said she has placed and accepted her orders for the spring.

“Just so I have something,” she said.

Hope for the future?

Is there an end in sight?

“Not right now, no,” Hilderbrant said.

Wholesalers that she’s ordered from are now including uncharges in costs.

“It started with the 3%; that was the first one. Then it went to 5%, then some are 20% on top of regular 15-20% (shipping costs),” Hilderbrant added.

“How much can you pass on to the customer?” she asked.

“You can’t really pass on a ton,” Hilderbrant said, but it’s going to happen at some point.

“We have to pass it on to the customer, unfortunately,” she said, adding, “You can only absorb so much.”

Tews said she is worried about the future.

“We ended [November] $4,000-$5,000 less than we did last year, and November and December is what you pay the bills on all year long,” she said. “If December continues in that route, then we’re going to be in trouble where we weren’t last year, because people really made sure that they shopped small.”

Buresh also doesn’t see improvement coming any time soon.

“I think it’s just going to get worse and small business will crumble under the stress,” he said. “Nowhere in any of our business plans was a global pandemic followed by supply chain shortages and the staffing crisis.

“I will just keep floating on and hope to stay above water until we reach some sort of normalcy.”