LIVERPOOL, N.Y. (NCC News) – A worldwide supply chain disruption has found its way to Central New York’s bookstores.
Casey Rose Frank founded Golden Bee Bookshop in Liverpool in November 2019 and has faced all the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
” I really had to figure out how to pivot, but I think that’s actually where being a new store was helpful, because I wasn’t set in my ways,” Frank said.
Frank moved the store to online orders and curbside pickups during the height of the pandemic and was able to thrive despite not being able to have customers in the store.
Now, the store is facing a new challenge in the global supply chain disruptions that are affecting production and shipping across industries. Frank said that her store is seeing the effects on new releases.
“It is hard when customers have their hearts set on a book that I have to then say, you know what, it’s actually been backordered, it’s delayed,” Frank said.
The production of new books is being affected by two major issues – a paper shortage caused by an increase in the price of the wood pulp used to make paper for books and backlogged ports which are causing delays in delivering them to bookstores.
This shortage is having more effects on independent stores like Frank’s than the larger chain stores. Matt Butler, the general manager of the Barnes & Noble in DeWitt, says the store has a distribution center that houses most of its stock.
“Supply chain is affecting us negatively only for a few of like the biggest releases,” Butler said.
With the holidays coming up, both Frank and Butler emphasized that it’s not just the newest best-sellers that can delight gift-givers this winter.
“Now might be a good to check out something else, just to see what else is out there. And there’s no shortage of fantastic books,” Frank said.
