A good five weeks before Christmas: Toy stores are suffering from delivery bottlenecks

Will there be disappointed children's eyes under the Christmas tree?

It is to be feared.

Many toys are not available.

Local shops advise early Christmas shopping.

Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen - Christmas Eve will be in a good five weeks, many wish lists have presumably already been written. Experts advise, however, that you should hurry up with the procurement of gifts. Especially when there are toys under the Christmas tree. "Unfortunately, around 80 percent of our items are currently not available," reports Maria Fagner, head of the toy department in the Isar department store in Geretsried. "We are now also noticing what the construction industry has been going through for a long time with the lack of raw materials."

The situation is similar at Spielwaren Tausend in Wolfratshausen.

“You notice it especially when you have a specific request from the catalog.

It may be that the goods are no longer available, ”says managing director Hans Frey.

He and his team ordered very specific toys for this year's Christmas party in February.

In many cases, however, Frey still does not know whether and when the goods will be delivered.

“I don't want to panic.

But if children know what they want, maybe you should go shopping. "

Do your shopping by the end of November

Maria Fagner recommends that you have done your shopping by the end of November.

“In the last few years we were able to reorder until the beginning of December, and most of it often arrived on time.

We don't have this guarantee this year. "

At Dieter Pany, business owner of Oisam 49 in Bad Tölz, happy children romp between the shelves looking for gift ideas to tell the Christ Child about. Due to the delivery bottlenecks, Pany is of the opinion: “The earlier the customers do their shopping this year, the better.” Even long-running hits like Lego or Playmobil are rare this year. “Anyone who relies on last-minute shopping will only get what is left over. New goods are not easy to order. We have reserves, but things can get tight. "

Thousand managing director Frey has spent many nights buying their stocks through wholesalers because the industry itself is currently unable to deliver.

Frey: "That costs more, of course, but we bear this price difference ourselves. We don't want to lose our reputation that toys have a thousand everything, and we don't want to put our customers under pressure."

Wrapping paper could also be scarce

At Spielwaren Krömer in Geretsried you have already noticed that there are more Christmas shoppers than usual in mid-November. "Some of our customers are very well informed and know that it might be difficult to choose gifts before the holidays," says saleswoman Birgit Schiller. Some customers have already ticked off their entire shopping list: “That is definitely earlier than the years before. But it's good for us, and customers still have a lot of choice. "

Schiller sees puzzles and board games in particular as very sought-after gifts.

At the moment, both are still relatively plentiful, but that could change quickly, says Maria Fagner.

In any case, Christmas decorations are already in short supply.

Fagner: "Even Santa hats are hard to come by." And those who usually only buy wrapping paper at the last minute will probably not have a large selection in mid-December.

The toy stores in the district have one big wish: if at all possible, you should buy your Christmas presents from brick-and-mortar stores - and not online.

Karin Holly

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