The cost of furniture increased last year, and manufacturers expect costs to continue to climb in 2022. (Ben Nelms/CBC - image credit)
The cost of furniture is climbing and shipping times are exponentially longer as manufacturers face significant cost increases for materials, supply shortages and longer wait times to get those materials.
Rick Ripoli, president of Stylus Made To Order Sofas based in Burnaby, B.C., says in his 40 years in the manufacturing and wholesale business, he's never seen prices increase and supply chain issues quite like what he's seeing now.
Nearly every raw material needed to make a piece in the Burnaby factory is more expensive, he says; in some cases, with a 35 per cent increase month over month. Additionally, there are supply shortages.
Ripoli says a container shipped from Asia in 2019 used to cost $1,800. Today, he pays upwards of $20,000 per container filled with materials.
Ripoli says he usually increases the price of sofas once a year, but in 2021 he had to increase prices six times to keep up with the cost of manufacturing.
He expects those cost increases to continue through 2022.
Those additional costs get passed on to customers.
Rick Bohonis, a retail consultant with DIG360 and co-founder of Urban Barn, sa