Waiting to do holiday shopping? Yule be sorry!

RAPID CITY, S.D. — The holiday season is fast approaching, and with Christmas now less than three months away, you might want to get a jump on your preparations.

The pandemic taught us all about toilet paper shortages, food shortages, and now – toy shortages. One local shop owner says if you’re looking for that one special toy this holiday season, you may want to start shopping now.

Big-box and online sellers like Walmart, Target, and Amazon all planning on early shopping deals. But smaller retailers nationwide are facing the same issue – disruptions in the supply chain wreaking havoc on product availability.

“But once these items are gone the probability of us being able to fill our shelves again is pretty minimal,” says Who’s Toy House owner Somer Kingsbury.

Kingsbury says that to the untrained eye, the store looks full – but their struggles with receiving product will become apparent this holiday season.

Each order they receive comes with pages and pages of back-stock items, which will come in – eventually.

“A lot of the products that we’re seeing come in right now were products that were maybe ordered last February. We even received a shipment a couple of weeks ago that was ordered two years ago,” Kingsbury says.

To ensure you get that special toy your child is wanting, Kingsbury suggests shopping now. Selection may be limited if you wait until closer to Christmas.

And if the toy shortage doesn’t get you – shipping deadlines might.

“Mailing deadlines for first-class letters – greeting cards, things such as that – is December 17. The following day – December 18 – is the deadline for priority mail – that’s when you’re mailing those packages to your loved ones. And then December 23 is the very last day – that’s for priority mail express shipping. But let’s not wait – let’s go ahead and get a head-start this season,” says Mark Inglett with U.S.P.S Strategic Communications.

CLICK HERE for more information on U.S.P.S. holiday shipping deadlines.