COLORADO SPRINGS— As President Trump's new tariffs kick in this week, some business owners tell News5 they are expecting changes to the price tags of their products.
"We have a lot of surpluses right now," said Nic Ponsor, Owner of Criterium Bike Shop.
Ponsor says excess inventory caused by shrinking demand for new bikes after the COVID pandemic, has been a problem for a while.
"As soon as the manufacturer gets through that surplus and we get the next shipment to come through with those tariffs added, we are going to see prices bounce up substantially," said Ponsor.
Ponsor says many bicycle parts are made outside of the United States. He suggests customers should consider buying bikes right now.
"On sales substantially, I mean some of them (are) 35% to 40%, which we've never seen in our industry," said Ponsor.
Ryan Prickett, Managing Partner of Brown's Shoe Fit Co., says he's already seen increased prices for some brands.
"They jumped up their prices about $5 on average per pair," said Prickett.
He says some shoe companies are starting to talk about possible impacts from the tariffs.
"Write your orders, but come this fall when you get them in, anything you order, probably it's going to (be) more... because of tariffs," said Prickett.
C&C Furniture started its business two years ago. The Owner, Cole Stephenson, says his goal is to sell furniture at affordable prices.
"The majority of our items are sofas," said Stephenson.
Stephenson says he and his co-owner are trying a new business approach to keep the prices low.
"We are ordering directly from China rather than buying a new couch from another wholesaler," said Stephenson.
However, a new tariff on imports from China could mean higher prices.
"We are going to keep our price point low as much as we can," said Stephenson. "It's out of our control. We just got to work with it."
___
Colorado Springs students react to Trump's involuntary collection of defaulted student loans
The U.S. Department of Education announced Monday that it will begin collections on defaulted loans starting May 5. We spoke to local students about their feelings on the call.
____
Watch KOAA News5 on your time, anytime with our free streaming app available for your Roku, FireTV, AppleTV and Android TV. Just search KOAA News5, download and start watching.
