'Scary' supply chain issues are even impacting Halloween costumes
For those celebrating Halloween this year, it may be one of the scariest parts of the festivities: many retailers are scrambling for stock this year, and those who do have costumes and decorations are charging a lot more.
Recent supply chain issues have impacted so many facets of Canadian life, and Halloween is no different.
A cautious 2020 left many inside and sales low across the board. But now that many feel comfortable celebrating Halloween again, demand is skyrocketing.
That's caught many suppliers off guard.
At Calgary's The Costume Shoppe, owner Ryan Schoel says it was an early gamble that saved his season.
"My orders started in January," he told CTV News. "Actually, some even started in December. I was very nervous. I took a position and it was either going to happen or I was going to have a lot of bills at the end of it all."
Some of those orders were still trickling in this week, but Schoel considers his overflowing shelves a fortunate pay-off.
Not every retailer was so lucky.
Many, no doubt feeling hesitant over the uncertainty of the pandemic, opted to wait out orders to see if demand would increase or if shipping costs would go down.
But deep into October, neither has happened.
U.S.-based HalloweenCostumes.com, which ships directly to Canadian consumers, said many retailers are struggling as they see a roughly 50 per cent increase in year-over-year demand compared with last year.
Spokeswoman Ashley Theis said much of the stock HalloweenCostumes.com ordered won't even arrive until after the holiday.
“This will just have to be 2022 Halloween inventory,” she said. "Few retailers are able to keep up.”
And as most Canadians know, it's not just Squid Games costumes and cobweb decorations.
"Any product you can think of, there's a shortage of it," Jori Logistics Sam Woods said.
Cargo and container shortages and massive port delays mean supply is slow-coming and limited.
"All these things on top of each other are making product hard to get here, and the prices extremely expensive," Woods said.
He believes things could even out late next year, but expects to hear even more stories of limited supply as December's holidays creep closer.
Woods says his advice to those celebrating Halloween next weekend is the same advice for businesses trying to stay on top of retail supply: order as early as possible and be prepared to pay more.
(With files from the Canadian Press)
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.