Posted on 04/15/2021 4:23:43 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Supply chain issues and the popularity of garden centres during lockdown are causing a shortage of garden gnomes.
The ornaments are in short supply with raw materials hard to come by and the recent blockage of the Suez Canal contributing to the national shortage.
Ian Byrne, assistant manager of Highfield Garden World in Whitminster, said there had been a "massive upswing" in the sales of garden gnomes.
"There aren't any [gnomes]. There's definitely a shortage. It's a combined thing with garden centres being so busy, I looked at some figures based on March which said garden centres were 97% busier than they were in 2019.
"Every day has been like a bank holiday. That's good but it's definitely causing some issues because it's not just English garden centres that are booming, it's all across Europe, so it's causing issues with supply," he said.
The garden centre has been looking far and wide for anyone who can provide gnomes, contacting suppliers across Europe and as far away as China.
"We haven't seen a gnome in six months now unfortunately," he said.
Mr Byrne said garden centres had experienced a "boom" and that their popularity was causing issues with the availability of many popular items.
*SNIP*
"They've been very popular over the last couple of seasons, we've seen a massive upswing in the sales of gnomes and definitely a different clientele wanting gnomes too," he added.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Can you eat a gnome?
5.56mm
Good info. I’d better go buying up all the good pickles now.
LOL! Get out the chain saw, grab some old stumps, and...
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