INVENTORY/PRICE INCREASES:

This is yet another memo from our vendors warning of increased prices and low inventory:

Inventory does remain very limited and freight costs remain elevated. For example, we just talked with Chicago Skate, and our next container from them will be approximately $20,000 to get it from China to the Virginia port. Then probably another $1000-$2000 to get it to Roanoke. So that’s approximately $6-$7 in shipping costs per pair of skates to get them from China to our warehouse. Prices are very “fluid” and we completely expect more price increases from each of our vendors.

We strongly encourage anyone that plans to buy skates this Christmas season to place an order ahead of time. That way you’ll be near the top of the list once a good shipment does arrive. We’ve had several shipments from vendors arrive, but all of the skates were already sold before we even had a chance to offer any inventory to someone that wasn’t on the list ahead of time.