Small retailers upbeat, though tariffs worrisome

In retail, holiday season ‘a really challenging time’

NEW YORK – Sales are so strong at women’s clothing company Leota that owner Sarah Carson is asking manufacturers for more inventory for the holidays, a change from last year. Leota, which sells dresses, tops, pants and skirts to stores and on its own website, has been getting reorders from retailers in mid-season, unlike recent years when customer demand was weaker.

But taking on more inventory isn’t something Carson is doing lightly; she doesn’t want a big surplus that she’ll need to mark down Dec. 26.

“The fourth quarter is a really challenging time in retail. You have to take the biggest inventory risk and you have a very short period of time to move it,” says Carson, whose business is up 55 percent this year.

Many small and independent retailers are more upbeat about the fourth quarter and holiday season than in recent years because customers are more confident and spending freely.

Shoppers are especially interested in some of the merchandise stores struggled to sell during the recession and its aftermath, in-

“People have been really responding to products that they know are made with integrity, and are supporting artisans both locally and globally.” Erica Tanov

Clothing retailer

cluding clothes and home furnishings. Retail sales tallied by the Commerce Department for the first eight months of 2018 were up 5.7 percent from a year earlier.

Clothing store sales rose 5.7 percent, while furniture store sales gained 5 percent. Online and mail-order sales soared 10.1 percent.

And while booming online sales have siphoned business away from many traditional retailers, small and independent stores with unique merchandise or services are enjoying a sales surge that allows them to stock up, although they do so judiciously.

Still, there are pockets of uncertainty including retailers in places recovering from natural disasters and those worried about the effect of the Trump administration’s import tariffs.

Erica Tanov is ordering more merchandise for her website and three clothing stores in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay area. She expects the fourth quarter and holiday season to surpass last year, when demand was so strong she ran out of some styles.

“People have been really responding to products that they know are made with integrity, and are supporting artisans both locally and globally,” she says.