By Greg Fry

COVID-19

COVID-19 affecting local furniture store

Feb 5, 2021 | 2:05 PM

PRINCE GEORGE — The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted our lives in a number of ways. From something as significant as our health and our ability to work, to even our ability to buy furniture and have it delivered to our homes in a timely manner.

Sonica Kandola, owner/operator of RK Furniture Gallery in Prince George, says it’s been like riding a rollercoaster since the pandemic began.

“I mean 2020 was challenging on all sorts of levels for all of us. I would say shutting the store down and laying off your staff is probably something nobody ever wants to do. So we started with that.

“Once we rolled out of that and we were able to open our doors again then we ran into the issues of being understaffed to a certain degree because there was so much demand. I think pent up demand leads to wanting to go out and beautify our homes because we’re spending so much time in them and because we didn’t spend money on taking that trip.”

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The biggest challenge now is a lack of supply.

“It’s killing us. It’s really hard because it’s in nobody’s control.”

She says it’s leading to long delays for many of the items she sells which is no surprise to UNBC School of Business Lecturer Charles Scott.

“So, what’s behind the delay is that we have over the past 50 years of supply chains built on one thing: efficiency. We haven’t prioritized resilience and the challenge becomes, as you get shifts, both in terms of the chaotic conditions people are facing, any kind of disruption in a system that is structured just to minimize costs, they can’t handle it.”

Moving forward, Kandola is preaching patience, noting “this will pass.”