Editor’s note: This is the first part in an ongoing series. If you are a business who is seeing impacts by tariffs, contact editor Nathan Countryman.

On April 2, 2025, President Donald Trump enacted new tariff levels on a number of countries across the world.

The tariffs against countries like the European Union at 20 percent, China at 125 percent have had an impact on some local businesses. On Friday, May 2, the Trump administration also eliminated the de minimis threshold for any imports of orders under $800 for China, with plans to eliminate the de minimis threshold for other countries as well.

Wendy Dorn-Recalde said that she requested information from legislators on the tariff issue, to little availability.

Wren and Purl have moved to be more flexible and think outside the box in the situation, to avoid some of the impacts of tariffs, like the tripling of costs for certain products.

“I have bought into new lines with product streams away from main targets of the tariffs – namely China, Canada and the European Union,” Dorn-Recalde said. “That means we’ve had to do some initial buy-ins to these companies, anywhere between $500 and $3,000.”

Dorn-Recalde said one of their biggest brand sellers are from a European country with some milling in China, and is one she’s worried about continuing on with, despite the consistently well made products. Another supplier was purchased by an online competitor, and Dorn-Recalde sees limiting business with them due to the issues they are having with supply.

Those who work with fabric arts also need needles, and Wren and Purl has previously worked with Chiaogoo needles, which were made in China.

“Chiaogoo are known to be one of best needles on the market,” Dorn-Recalde said. “They are not inexpensive, but people will pay for high-quality tools. Knitpro needles-which we have started to carry some lines from – are manufactured in India. Addi needles are manufactured in Germany. The one company that manufactures knitting needles and crochet hooks in the US are manufacturing nice, but very unpopular styles of product. They are quite simply very behind and make tools that are not usefulfor most modern patterns.

People have gotten used to good quality circular needles – asking them to return to straights would be a hilarious experiment, if nothing else.”

Dorn-Recalde said that the costs of tariffs will need to be passed on to customers, but she is hoping to be transparent about that with customers and let them know what the tariff fees will be.

“I am looking into separating the tariff charges on the receipt- I want customers to understand what is happening,” Dorn-Recalde said. “Happily, most of our customers know exactly what is going on.” Dorn-Recalde said that suppliers from all over the world have been proactive in letting distributors know what they are facing and try to make things workable on their end. “if I do smaller buys under de minimis right now, we don’t get tariffed if items aren’t from China.” Dorn-Recalde said. I have done some focused buying from suppliers in the EU, mainly, on things that we just simply don’t make here and I want a supply of those products that will last awhile. This all increases the risk businesses of all sizes take on.”

Dorn-Recalde said while she would love to see manufacturing moving back to the United States for craft items, the issue comes from the quality of those products needing to improve as well.

Wren and Purl also offers books, and that is an area that Dorn-Recalde is a little less knowledgeable on how tariffs are impacting.

“A lot of printing is done in China- particularly of children’s books- so people should understand that,” Dorn-Recalde said. “Costs will absolutely increase there and we don’t even have printing equipment to handle some of the printing people have become accustomed to.”

Dorn-Recalde said that the rebound for her market may take time if things go south with prolonged tariffs.

“Our industry is one that people often turn to when things get tough,” Dorn-Recalde said. “Crafting/creating/ learning how to do things and fix things is a good idea at any time, but particularly when you have no control over how the world is working at any given moment.”

Tasha Erickson of Scarlett Boutique said the tariffs are impacting areas of her business. All of her products are imported.

“My paint comes from England, and the majority of my boutique inventory is from China or Vietnam,” Erickson said. “I utilize American wholesalers that import and sort the items before shipping the to me. The prices on some of those items are raising slightly, but I have been warned that prices will continue to increase.”

Her paint supplying company has also given a warning that purchasing costs will go up.

“As a business owner, I have always tried to find quality items for my shop at reasonable prices,” Erickson said.

“Recently, I have had to work harder to research and search out new wholesalers and products. My goal is to continue to keep my prices down for my customers. Eventually, this will be harder to do and there will be slight increases passed on to them. There are some brands that I will always carry at Scarlett Boutique that I can’t avoid the increased cost.”

Erickson said that she is trying to make purchases before the larger increases take place.

“Small businesses face competition with big box stores during this time because they have the money to purchase in bulk at lower prices,” Erickson said. “It is financially stressful for my business to have to change the way we purchase.”

Erickson said she hopes that consumers understand the difficulties for small businesses in navigating tariff issues and worries, and the importance of supporting local business owners throughout all of this.
Alexandra Rambo, who runs Alexandra Rambo Art Painting and Pottery, said that the costs for many of her products have gone up.

“Especially when it comes to the glazes I use for pottery,” Rambo said.

“You’d think the more expensive part of pottery would be the clay, but it’s usually the glazes.” Many of those glazes are created in countries like China, and while Rambo did try to do some bulk ordering on certain glazes ahead of the tariffs, she knows that the costs for her are going to increase in the future for any glazing restocks, and thus her sale price for pottery will go up to allow her to do more than break even.

Rambo is also working on a mural project for the Bijou, and she’s worried about costs for things like tarps, drop clothes and other items that are one time uses for the business for a project like that.

“I’m also worried about the number of mural jobs I might have in the future, if we’re all facing higher costs,” Rambo said. “When people’s budgets decrease for projects, that beautification budget for a mural is one of the areas that always shrinks.”

Tara Comley with Hill of a Deal said that they have not been impacted by tariffs at the moment.

“We were afraid they would, but we have seen no supply chain issues or changes in costs currently,” Comley said.