We encourage those shopping to plan ahead and place orders early to allow time for product to come in. Please contact the store to get an ETA on items you are interested in!
Read below for some insight for how Covid is effecting all industries, including furniture:
What's causing delays and stress on the system?
The arrival of the COVID-19 virus to the US in mid-March began a litany of changes that we are still understanding today. Around March 15th, Georgia began to shut down. We were shocked when the NBA cancelled their season and schools sent the students home. Most thought it would last a few weeks and be done. In business, factories and retailers closed their doors waiting for the storm to pass. But it didn't. COVID-19 has been with us for four months now, although it seems like a lifetime. It's not going away anytime soon.
In the beginning of May, Furniture retailers and manufacturers transitioned from being closed-down with minimal business to reopening gradually. The capacity to make products due to this pullback and then huge expansion of orders leaves manufacturers scrambling to fulfill orders. Most have reworked millions of square feet of production and warehousing to ensure the safety of workers due to social distancing requirements. Can you imagine the cost incurred in lowering the density of workers (thus slowing down production lines), installing safety shields, performing temperature checks, etc.? Those cost are incurred to keep people safe, and did not pass along the higher costs to customers. Add in the unemployment and stimulus money that created a disincentive for workers to return to making furniture and you start to see the challenges of quickly rebuilding a manufacturing process.
In the beginning of May, Furniture retailers and manufacturers transitioned from being closed-down with minimal business to reopening gradually. The capacity to make products due to this pullback and then huge expansion of orders leaves manufacturers scrambling to fulfill orders. Most have reworked millions of square feet of production and warehousing to ensure the safety of workers due to social distancing requirements. Can you imagine the cost incurred in lowering the density of workers (thus slowing down production lines), installing safety shields, performing temperature checks, etc.? Those cost are incurred to keep people safe, and did not pass along the higher costs to customers. Add in the unemployment and stimulus money that created a disincentive for workers to return to making furniture and you start to see the challenges of quickly rebuilding a manufacturing process.
More fun:
Different states have different rules. Some plants have closed down and strictly regulated while other plants faced varying degrees of limitations on how much they could open up. Plants that were already stressed beyond capacity had to pick up the slack for other limited/closed plants. Meanwhile, outside the plants, supply chains both nationally and internationally faced massive changes as the virus flared up in different countries and at different times. Even if factories could spring back to full capacity with enough space and workers to be at 120%, the supply of raw materials, parts, finished goods and other components continue to vary wildly.
What we are doing: Some orders that are not in stock or have to be produced are estimated 2-12 weeks from time of purchase. This is much longer than usual, but is what we are facing until things settle back to "normal".
If you have an existing order, it's better to keep your place in line with manufacturing/production. When stock is available we fill orders by oldest orders first. We encourage customers that we will keep items on order, and if you find the item somewhere else, to let us know. Most of our customers are discovering that every manufacture and every store is dealing with the same delays.
If you have an existing order, it's better to keep your place in line with manufacturing/production. When stock is available we fill orders by oldest orders first. We encourage customers that we will keep items on order, and if you find the item somewhere else, to let us know. Most of our customers are discovering that every manufacture and every store is dealing with the same delays.
Have Questions? Give the store a call at 678-402-1190. We value your business, and will work through this tough time and prevail!