HOUSTON — The longshore workers' strike has been ongoing for two days now.
At the Port of Houston, the largest retailers rely on some of those goods coming in from around the world. At the grocery store, we may not see impacts right away.
Other retailers are hoping the strike ends soon.
If the workers stay on the picket line for several weeks, one of Texas’ major liquor retailers says it could hurt them around the holidays.
Goods brought into the Port of Houston include alcohol heading for the shelves of liquor stores like Spec's.
“We have thousands of cases on order for holidays and a lot are on the water now trying to get here,” Spec's President John Rydman said.
He said those imports were ordered back in June and July.
“Our pinot grigios, wines from Italy, several thousands of cases of those coming in, our champagnes for December, Irish cremes, scotches, gins, everything from Europe,” Rydman said.
Most of those goods come in refrigerated containers, he says. Experts say the other perishable goods include some pharmaceuticals, but they won’t be an issue right away. But, a problem will arise if the strike lasts three to four weeks.
At grocery stores, they're expecting to be fine.
Kroger told KHOU 11 that they do not expect impacts from the strike. H-E-B also said Tuesday they don’t anticipate customer impact, stating in part most products are not affected.
At spec’s, Rydman is worried about how the strike could impact consumer prices.
“It will affect what we have available in December, The next thing is prices will go up and consumers will have higher prices, which we don’t like to do," Rydman said.
Other experts say fruits like bananas could be some of the first affected but they warn there is no need to horde any of these products.