How to navigate supply chain issues, timing, buying, and more
By Danielle Higley
The holiday season is an exciting — and stressful — time for small business owners. Increased foot traffic, bigger sales goals, and the desire to turn new customers into regular patrons means more pressure than any other time of year.
Piling atop the typical challenges of entrepreneurship, business owners are faced with every conceivable balancing act: Where to put all that additional inventory when there’s limited shelf space. How to get big-ticket items out the door. Ensuring that each item is in the right place at the right time. Meanwhile, 2020 and 2021’s supply chain issues loom like ghosts of Christmases past.
Yet despite all these concerns, Dierdre Appelhans and Barbra Huntting, co-owners of The Read Queen Bookstore & Café, exhibit an admirable sense of peace and confidence going into the 2022 holiday shopping season.
Two and a half years after opening their doors in Lafayette, Colorado, they’re sharing their lessons learned. Here are four of their small business insights for retailers looking to make a holiday inventory plan.