By D.A. Reed
WKTV Contributing Writer

As the holiday shopping continues, local West Michigan businesses find acquiring merchandise for shoppers more challenging than usual due to far-reaching economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meyer Music is no stranger to these struggles. A third-generation family-owned music supply and repair store, owners Joel Hoekstra and his wife Lindy have felt the long-lasting effects of the pandemic in several ways over the last 18 months.

When COVID-19 first appeared in the United States, the main concern for the Hoekstras was the safety of local students. “Much of what we do is dependent upon people blowing air,” Joel Hoekstra said. “We had to question—can playing an instrument be safe for students?”

Specially made masks with slits for instrument mouthpieces and bell covers for wind instruments were just some of the solutions Meyer Music implemented.

However, as months passed with no end to the pandemic, the Hoekstra family, like many other retailers, began to face merchandise supply issues.
 

“We haven’t had as many issues as some retailers,” Hoekstra said. “Due to the nature of our business, we always have to plan far ahead. When we realized there were issues with the supply chain, we began ordering even further in advance.”

Getting shipments from warehouses in the United States is pretty quick, Hoekstra said, but supplies from Asia take much longer, with shipments remaining on the water for up to 90 days before making it to land. Inflation has prices surging for everyone, causing suppliers to prioritize higher priced items for shipping and often leaving smaller goods behind because they are too expensive to ship to the U.S. Hoekstra acknowledged that once the U.S. warehouses are depleted, finding supplies will become more challenging.

“This puts a different strain on the system than we’ve ever seen before,” he said. “There are unprecedented amounts of instruments and products on backorder.”
 

Educators have been understanding, Hoekstra said, adding “We have good relationships with teachers and are always truthful with them.”

Meyer Music customer Matthew Reed, who is the band director for Central Montcalm Public Schools, certainly understands.
 

“Supply chain issues have impacted purchases and instrument supplies,” Reed said. “I’ve ordered new instruments and can’t even get an estimated arrival, and had to be flexible on how quickly smaller items are available. Flexibility and patience are definitely required at the moment. Along with ordering early.”

Hoekstra believes the supply chain issue is still 18 months from any form of resolution. To counteract it, Hoekstra said he plans to continue his aggressive approach to staying ahead of the supply issues, placing big orders for store merchandise now instead of his usual timeline of January-March.

 

During the pandemic, the federal government considered bike shops essential because bikes are viewed as a mode of transportation. However, “Michigan is the only state in the nation where bike shops were not deemed essential,” said West Michigan Bike & Fitness sales manager Geoff Kuyper. “April 25, 2020 was the first day bike shops were allowed to open in Michigan after a seven-week closure. Any store with available inventory was sold out within two weeks.”

In fact, that first day, approximately 50 percent of the calls West Michigan Bike & Fitness received were from out-of-state retailers, who were able to stay open, looking for inventory because they had depleted resources.

“Not only was the significant demand causing delays on parts and productions, there was a shutdown overseas at the beginning of the pandemic where they didn’t ship,” said Geoff Kuyper, West Michigan Bike & Fitness sales manager. “Stores ran out of inventory at that time.”

Like Hoekstra, Kuyper said he doesn’t see the supply issue stabilizing until fall of 2023. “Most stores only have one model (of bike) to show. Some models are backordered 12 to 18 months, some are backordered until 2024,” he said.

Taking a page from car dealerships that recommend pre-ordering, Kuyper said pre-ordering is the only way to get something specific, but consumers have to be willing to wait. If a person needs something more quickly, then Kuyper suggested not looking for a specific model, but simply asking stores what they have on hand or what models stores can obtain on a faster timeline.

Though the supply chain issue is ongoing, both Kuyper and Hoekstra are staying positive.
 

“It’s better than it was,” said Kuyper. “The last two months have improved our position dramatically.”

While for Hoestra it is a matter of unity and support: “We are in this together. Local businesses are doing everything we can to support our local communities.”