If only, right? No such luck. At least for today.

Instead I'm going to give you a quick 3 minute read on shortages and why you might want to consider shopping your favorite little boutiques this season so that they can still be around next season.

Lately we have all been schooled on how supply chain issues can gum up the works. Like most businesses, spring and summer of 2020 was a bit of a dust up for D+L. Raw materials were scarce, our lab production was down for weeks, and shortages of everything forced us to make due with what was available.

As we progressed into 2021, we decided to prepare for the worst. We loaded up on raw materials, packaging supplies, and we standardized our plastics consumption into two lanes. Lane one: choose plastics that would be highly valued by recyclers, to be repurposed by the industry and not land-filled. Lane Two: find three sizes that make the most sense as a manufacturer, and take into account the cost and use as a consumer. We ordered our holiday shopping and gift bags back in February. Candle glasses were silkscreened by the thousands. Ribbons, tissue, boxes, packing tape.. most of us don't think about the special little things until they're in short supply. Among the goals for 2021 was to state that this holiday season we will have plenty of everything. We will continue to give back within our community and strive to be greener, but we are taking nothing for granted.

Last year gave us a glimpse of what havoc shortages can bring so in a sense we were lucky to anticipate this year. Nothing goes to waste in our workshop. But not every small business is quite so lucky. For many retailers who need the holidays to fund their year, survival isn't possible without our support. We encourage you to shop small again this season. To support the little stores in your towns and neighborhoods as so many of you already do. Please share what you love about them on your social media feeds and by word of mouth.

Too much of what we love about Philly is already in scarce supply.