Toy shortages leading up to Christmas likely

With Christmas around the corner and issues in the global supply chain, The Liberty zooms in on a local toy store to hear about possible toy problems.

“There is a supply mess with the fact that there’s less containers available,” Morris Doyle, manager of Banba Toymaster on Mary Street, told The Liberty this week. 

“Containers are getting more expensive, and the microchip situation isn’t helping. So, anything that requires a microchip is in short supply.” 

The current shortage of microchips has affected other areas of life beyond toys. 

In the toy realm, the trouble will affect “anything that uses electronics, battery operated toys and so forth, music and sound-oriented toys and so on”, Doyle said.  

“If we were to re-order something now, we could be waiting
three to four weeks for delivery”

– MORRIS DOYLE, MANAGER OF BANBA TOYMASTER STORE

Luckily some problems were anticipated. “We ordered our stock early and we got delivery early rather than waiting till September, which is what we normally do.” 

When we visited in late November, the Mary Street shop was fully stocked. However, Doyle observed that items that run out soon might not get restocked before Christmas.

“If we were to re-order now, whereas in the past we would be waiting five to 10 days for delivery, now we could be waiting three to four weeks for delivery.” 

Aside from the potential electronic toy shortages, Banba Toymaster also faces a potential shortage of one of the most popular toy items: Lego.  

“Lego is one of the most popular items in any toy store, so there’s always going to be a supply and demand issue,” admitted the toy store manager. 

“I’ve noted that we ordered some Lego for a top up coming up to Christmas, but a percentage of it has already sold out and won’t be available until mid-December, which is too late to ship to Ireland.” 

This Lego issue was reported as early as September by publications like the Retail Gazette.  

The store manager only had one piece of advice for those shopping for Christmas presents: “I can only say buy early.”