Toy store reports out of stock issues ahead of holiday – Action News Jax

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — If you’ve been shopping lately, you may have noticed empty shelves. And if you ordered furniture online, you might find that it takes months to be delivered to your doorstep.

Indeed, the products are stuck in shipping containers off the coast of California, thanks to a supply chain blockage.

Action News Jax walked into a local toy store to see how the owners are handling shortages.

Theresa Duncan and her father opened Villa Villekulla Toys in Fernandina Beach nearly seven years ago.

“We thought, how wonderful it would be if our town had a toy store,” she said. “We really wanted kids in the community to have access to good toys.”

The toy store has had its ups and downs, but Duncan says this current supply chain lockdown is unlike anything she’s seen before. It usually takes Duncan two weeks to get a toy from the manufacturer into his store. But the things she ordered in June don’t arrive until October.

Duncan says there are currently around 6,100 toys in his store, and 5,500 are out of stock.

Some objects are even missing.

“We ordered a princess and a pirate together, and the pirate is literally lost at sea right now,” Duncan said with a laugh.

She’s not too worried about the heist. Duncan and his dad prepared ahead and packed extra toys for the Christmas shopping rush. She suggests shopping in person as things online might not be available in time for Christmas.

“This year it will be more important that you get quality toys for your children and because things may not be available it could be an opportunity to make a Christmas less is more where you get them very good stuff instead of loads of stuff,” Duncan said.

Ultimately, Duncan’s goal is to bring joy to local children no matter what.

You can read more about the supply chain shortage here and what the Florida Ports Council wants to do to fix the problem.

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