DEPEW, N.Y. (WIVB) — Some retailers are getting down to the wire to hire extra help as the holiday season approaches. Hiring has been difficult throughout the pandemic and people are already starting to buy gifts.
This is the first holiday season Store 716 Buffalo in Depew will be open in person, not just online. Partner Tony Hoffman said they’ll be hiring for the holidays soon.
Some people may remember Store 716 as an online shop, which they were exclusively for 10 years. Hoffman said shopping delays last holiday season partly led to the opening of the store.
We will see 5,6,7 times normal sales in the two months running up until Christmas. So we normally have additional people coming in and helping with online stuff so now we’ll have the same thing, but obviously with people working in a retail environment,” he said.
They recently hired a store manager and are looking to hire more people, especially once they expand their hours to accommodate evening shoppers.
Mark Andol owns the four Made In America stores. He said people have been shopping for the holidays since mid-September and it’s been harder to find workers.
“As we get closer to the holidays it’ll get stronger, but like I said it’s already strong we already need extra help,” Andol said. “We’ve got openings now it’s just hard to get people to come in. The wages, they all changed, they want more money and they demand more money which is fine, we like to pay a fair wage.”
While big box chains are offering competitive wages, Hoffman is confident they’ll find the help they need.
“I think big box stores that almost hurts themselves because they have to spread out that pay over a lot of different people. We can choose someone whos really enthusiastic who really wants to be here we can pay them well and that’s something that’s hard for a big box store to do over hundreds of thousands of people.”