JACKSONVILLE, Fla — At Hurricane Hobbies in Mandarin, small business owner Ron Ricketts is looking at the big picture.
"Obviously, a lot of our products are made in China just to keep the prices down, to keep it competitive," he told First Coast News.
More than half of his inventory comes from China and with the coronavirus shutting down factories overseas, he's preparing to get ahead of any delays by ordering more products now.
"Some of the items that we know are made in China, we want to anticipate that and try to stock that ahead of time," he said.
Ricketts orders about $10,000 worth of products each week, but he says he may be putting in a larger order this week to make up for any possible shortages from his distributors.
"Try to stock the store up as heavy as I possibly can so as we move into Christmas, I am not sitting around with an empty store," Ricketts said.
Last week, he received a letter from one distributor telling him some Chinese companies will not be able to fill his orders on time because of the coronavirus. Ricketts is hoping to keep the shelves stocked despite a possible setback that's beyond his control.
"I hope the community understands how much hard work it takes for someone to run a business and without us, there would be no community," Ricketts said.