As the fall weather brings cooler days, the temperature in town is heating up with the Leaf Lookers coming to town. Foot traffic has increased tremendously. Many folks schedule their mountain visits from one year to the next, returning on the same weekend in October every year. Normally the leaves would be colorful by now, but they are still mostly green. We have had torrential rainstorms, heat waves, cool spells, hurricanes, and long dry spells. The weather just couldn’t make up its mind. The leaves appear to be holding on for dear life. Still, the mountains are lush and beautiful, and I expect visitors are not disappointed. At cleats they seem happy when they pour into Chifferobe to shop.
Trouble waiting in the wings, though. Several people have expressed concern that stock in stores will soon be depleted. If you watch the news, you see the huge number of container ships anchored off the coast of California waiting to be allowed to enter the port to unload. Sadly, there aren’t enough longshoremen to unload nor truck drivers to transport the goods to the stores across the country waiting impatiently for merchandise. Ron tells me it is next to impossible to buy appliances, windows, doors, or even wood for construction projects. I have heard also the the new crop of “Must Have” toys coming from China is sitting on ships in the Pacific, so there will be lots of disappointed kiddies this Christmas.
I’m glad I ordered holiday merchandise early this year, because things are taking much longer to arrive. Happily I have much stock out and more crammed into the storage closet. Visitors to Black Mountain are most certainly shopping for Christmas already, which makes us merchants happy, but if you have something specific in mind for holiday giving, I suggest you come in soon to get first choice.
Weekdays we are still quiet, and you can easily find parking and can move around without a crowd. Weekends are busy, though! We dared to eat pizza at Fresh last Sunday, night and only got a seat relatively quickly because we ate at 5:30. By the time we left, the parking lot was full of folks waiting for tables. We are witnessing more visitors these days who have discovered Black Mountain and our little town is hopping!
