Gift basket business forum

The effects of the West Coast port closure spread far and wide, with scattered factory closures, layoffs and some shortages of perishables. Though President Bush invoked the Taft-Hartley Act on Oct. 8 and dockworkers returned to work the following day, so much cargo had accumulated that it could take weeks to clear all the held-up shipments. So the Business Journal asks:

Have the port closures affected your business?

Jim Ball

President

Sure-Grip International

Yes, it has definitely impacted us. We had two shipments of roller skating shoes from China that were stuck in the harbor somewhere. I just found out this morning (Oct. 10) that one of those shipments cleared customs, but we don't know exactly where it is now. Because the shoes haven't gotten here yet, I've had to Furlough a couple of our employees. I have no idea when they are coming back to work; that depends on when the shipments come in.

Linda LoRe

President and Chief Executive Frederick's of Hollywood

It's affecting us slightly. We do have some holiday silk garments and some fabrics that have been sequestered at the docks and we have some back orders of shoes that are also still at the docks. But luckily, most of our vendors anticipated this and shipped their stuff by air. So we're not nearly as impacted as many people I know.

Jeff Kavin

Owner

Greenblatt's Deli

We're just starting to see the impact in the last couple of days. Yesterday, our basket vendor for our gift baskets didn't have the baskets we wanted because they were held up on the docks. And some of the wines that we ordered are also still sitting on the docks. We figured President Bush would invoke the Taft-Hartley Act, but we didn't count on the backlog of three to six weeks to get everything off the docks once the ports reopened.

Shawn Saeedian

Owner

Beverly Hills Market

The only immediate effect has been the bananas. There is a shortage of bananas now and the price have jumped. There may be other impacts if it take several more weeks to clear the docks, but as of now, that's the extent of it.

Tom Shapiro

Chief executive Academy Tent and Canvas

I don't know that it has affected our business. All our stuff, the fabric, is made domestically, and we do our manufacturing in Vernon. There are hard ware parts that are imported, but in our case we ordered a large enough quantity that we haven't run out.

Linda Griego

Principal Managing Partner

Engine Co. No. 28

It's not really affecting us right now. We may get dinged a bit on berries that we import. But most of our produce is local right now. It's later in the winter when we would get hit. When the California season ends, that's when we're dependent on produce from Chile and Baja California. We've been watching it and so far everything is holding.