JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The busiest shopping weekend of the year continues with Small Business Saturday and many local store owners in our area hope that you buy local.
The supply chain issues have raised prices on everything from food to gas and have also caused issues with local retailers, but one store in particular hopes to find a way around some of their supply chain problems.
For the brothers who run FLUS, pride in furniture making is in the details.
"It's definitely an art to us," says FLUS owner Sami Tayarah. "Seeing a piece go from straight-up wood to a chair or a sofa, that's where the pride comes for us."
Sam Tayarah was in the furniture business for nearly 40 years, his sons Sami and Abdul started this business just a year ago. FLUS, which stands for Fabric, Leather, Upholstery, Supplies, is a furniture and upholstery store in a plaza right off Atlantic Boulevard, but their materials come from far away.
"We get from Turkey, Germany, all over the world," says Tayarah.
With an international list of goods, this family-owned store is hit hard by supply chain delays with materials sitting on cargo ships.
"We definitely had some struggles," says Tayarah, "for example foam, there was a huge shortage in oil, and all of a sudden we were unable to order foam."
Without all of the materials they need to make furniture, Sami Tayarah and his brother Abdul Tayarah decided that if customers could supply their own foam then the brothers would happily make the furniture that was ordered.
"Otherwise we wouldn't have been able to continue a good part of the business like cushions and pillows."
They're not out of the woods yet, what used to take four weeks to make now has a wait time of about 8-12 weeks. But this family-owned and operated store wants all of its customers to feel, well, like family.
"We want to offer a place that's welcoming and warm, and have that step above."
And one that creates a comfortable place to sit.