With Halloween just days away, stores everywhere begin their transition to the holiday season preparation. Many tend to hire more seasonal employees, bringing on the additional help to make it easier for the store to run smoothly. However, this year many struggle to offer an inviting enough pay and in turn are struggling to find seasonal workers to help operations. Minimum wage has increased over the last year in the state as has additional benefit requirements been made, which has led to wage competition. This has left many to struggle to be able to make room for another staff member in their payroll.

To try and make staffing work given this issue, some stores may alter their store hours, shortening them.

The President of the Minnesota Retailers Association, Bruce Nustad, explained the situation saying, “Labor continues to not be abundant.” He said retailers everywhere, but especially in the Twin Cities, Minneapolis and St. Paul, are having to determine if they can even afford to be open at all during this holiday season. They have undergone new challenges in terms of business operations for the past year but have begun to experience it exponentially more. This holiday season thus far is proving that retail and labor is in a far more different place than it was before.

The biggest challenge for shop owners has been finding the balance of maintaining affordable shop hours and staff while maintaining customer experience and satisfaction.

One such shop owner with three different storefronts in Minnesota, Brenda Lamb, has spoken regarding the struggles she is having. As the owner of Candyland, a sweets shop, she is struggling to find good, reliable, and lasting employees. She said, “Sometimes they don’t stay around very long.”

The Twin Cities each have their own set minimum wage requirements, with differences between big and small businesses, and this has been a leading cause for shop struggles. In St. Paul, small businesses have a minimum wage of $13 and large businesses have one of $15. In Minneapolis, their small business minimum wage is $14.50 and large business one is $15.19.

This issue is definitely not one isolated to the Twin Cities, nor even just Minnesota. Nationwide, small and large business owners struggle to find sufficient staffing at levels they can afford going into the holiday season. Adjustments are being made all around for companies as they try to find their right place in the retail market going forward.