BASSETT, Va. – If you’ve recently bought new furniture and it seems to be taking a long time to get to you, you’re not alone!
There are huge backlogs across the furniture industry, and we’re seeing that impact locally too.
The warehouse is busy at Bassett Furniture.
“Since COVID, we’ve been working like 45 hours a week,” said Lisa Boyd, who works at Bassett Furniture.
“Since Memorial Day of last year, our order flows have increased and increased dramatically,” said Jeb Bassett, senior vice president & chief operations officer for Bassett Furniture.
But with that booming business, they’re also dealing with big backlogs, meaning big delays for customers.
“The wood product is somewhere around 8 to 10 weeks and then the upholstery product is about double that,” Bassett said.
In the warehouse, they are hard at work trying to complete these orders, but they’re experiencing delays of their own when it comes to materials.
“We can’t get our products to us fast enough,” Boyd said.
Delays are blamed on the coronavirus pandemic slowing down the movement of goods and other supply chain issues.
“There are some issues out there that we’re working through every day,” Bassett said.
At times, that translates into too much work without enough supplies to do it.
“If the product’s not getting to us, it cuts our hours back and also the consumer, it hurts them,” Boyd said.
The surging demand is also good news for the Henry County-based business, especially after shutting down most operations early on in the pandemic.
“I really didn’t even think I would have a job. I thought I’d be at home looking for another job. I didn’t think I would come back here to go to work but luckily we did,” Boyd said.
“Well it feels great especially right here in the hometown where we were started in 1902,” Bassett said.
A double-edged sword driven by the pandemic.