Retailers look to staff up ahead of holiday rush with workers in

Karen Hilt owns My Secret Stash in Traverse City, Michigan, retailing products from local artists and sellers— and business has been booming. Hilt’s feeling optimistic about the upcoming holiday season, so much so that she’s gearing up to open a second location.

But like many small business owners, she’s staring down an ongoing labor crunch, and staffing the new store remains a challenge.

A recent poll from the National Federation of Independent Business found nearly half of owners it surveyed were experiencing either significant or moderate staffing challenges.

“Between both locations I have six, and I would love to have 10 or 12 workers. That would make me a lot happier,” Hilt said.

To take up the slack she added, “I’m working pretty much seven days a week, morning, noon and night.”

Hilt’s upbeat holiday sales outlook is echoed by the National Retail Federation, which expects a roaring season, with sales during November and December projected to rise between 8.5% and 10.5% for a total of between $843.4 billion and $859 billion of sales. The projection tops last year’s numbers and would mark a new all-time high, even as a triple whammy of labor shortages, supply chain woes and inflation hit companies nationwide.

“If retailers can keep things on their shelves, and that shippers can get the goods delivered to people’s homes by Christmas, it’ll be really a banner year for holiday spending,” said Jack Kleinhenz, chief economist at the NRF, who noted the staffing issue hits not only retailers in stores and online, but in the supply chain.

Supply chain disruptions and worker shortages could put a crimp in the party. According to the NFIB, 48% of small businesses say supply chain disruptions are having a significant impact. Of those who rely on holiday sales for a significant part of yearly revenue, 38% anticipate such shortages will impact sales.

“We are seeing a shortage of workers in distribution and warehouse. Part of that is the timing of getting the products, even from the port, to the timing of these of these products getting into a distribution and warehouse area. They’re juggling hours, they’re juggling people, and people are working long hours,” Kleinhenz said.

Retail job openings hit 1.3 million in August according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Challenger, Gray & Christmas projects 700,000 workers will be hired this season. The retail sector added 35,000 jobs in October according to BLS. Amazon, Target and Walmart and others are looking for hundreds of thousands of workers and bumping wages, offering bonuses and more to recruit.

Baltimore-based Under Armour said it’s entering the holiday season with more teammates than it’s had in years past in its retail stores. The company has hired 1,000 seasonal workers and is seeking 1,000 more workers to be brought on…