The Trump administration’s tariffs are more than a headache for local merchants.
Across the spectrum from food to flowers to plush-stuffed friends, the current chaos is affecting prices and long-term planning.
Four businesspeople gave their thoughts about what they are doing, thinking and feeling during these chaotic economic times.
“Anxiety is what’s coming from it,” said Adrian Weissell owner of Anfora Wine Merchants. “We haven’t seen actual rising prices yet. What’s been proposed has been postponed, but it’s only been halted for 90 days. It’s gone from 200% to 20%. Now it’s going to be 10%. We’re trying to figure out how to not raise prices very much and how to be as fair to us and to our customers and to our partners that we work with.”
Anfora Wine Merchants is at 128 S. Marion St.
“One thing that COVID taught us is that we have the ability to pivot a little bit quicker, because we are a small business,” said Karen Morava owner of Careful Peach, a European food, wine, gifts and housewares emporium.
“The disadvantage is that we don’t have a lot of information,” said Morava. “What I have been doing is getting on the phone with every vendor and finding out what has landed. In other words, what’s already in the U.S. What is on the water. What has yet to be produced.”
Careful Peach is at 1024 North Blvd.
“Everything I sell is imported,” said Garland Flowers owner Therese McGuire. “My hard goods mostly come from China and the flowers come either from Ecuador, Colombia or up in Canada. I’ve gotten letters from every one of my suppliers that we’ve pre-ordered from saying our price might change depending on the tariffs. It’s just crazy.”
Garland Flowers is at 137 S. Oak Park Ave.
“Books are exempted at the moment,” said Jamie Ericson owner of Dandelion Bookshop. “But the plush animals, I did hear from one company today that tariffs will cause price increases, but they’re not planning to pass them on. They said that this was a time when kids need something cuddly and comforting, so they were going to try and keep them the same as long as they can. But they did recommend we stock up.”
Dandelion Books recently opened at 139 S. Oak Park Ave.
At Anfora, “We’ve just added a 3% tariff charge to all our sales,” said Weissell. “It’s a minimal amount of money, so that ultimately we don’t have to raise prices on the shelves. We are raising our corkage fee. You can still come and get a glass of wine and a snack, and it adds up to a couple cents on a receipt. It gives us a little breathing room.”
“I preordered a little conservatively,” said Garland Flowers’ McGuire. “People are still going to die. People are still going to have birthdays. People are still going to get married. They’re still going to have moms on Mother’s Day. In the grand scheme, we’ll figure a way somehow. But it’s a huge deal just coming out of the pandemic. Everybody’s resources are not what they might have been.”
“It’s been a bumpy five years,” Weissell said. “This ridiculous policy is based off the fanciful ideas of one person who doesn’t really understand economics or the global economy and how that would threaten the vibrancy of communities around the country.”
“The fluid situation at the White House, I don’t have anything flattering to say about that,” Morava said. “Part of me understands what Trump is trying to do, but you can’t just set up a factory in a month. I do all my orders for the entire year pretty much in January. It’s just been disappointing to take my creative time away from the shop, the thing I love best. It’s just been, it’s been a constant scramble. Still, I will figure something out. I always do.”
“I keep reading advice that says, ‘They win if you let them take joy and hopefulness away from you.’ So, I’m trying to keep those, but it’s a little harder some days,” McGuire said.