Marchant's Food in Brussels, the town’s only grocery store, says it will be closing early most of this week due to a staffing shortage.
After a post online showed a grocery store cutting back its hours, it raised some questions about how the rest of the county is staffing positions.
We spoke with a few local businesses to see what the job market looks like and what challenges they're facing, watch below:
"In the last few years, I notice a lot of teens just don't want to work a lot as much as they used to," Lindsey Nielson, an employee at Marchant's, said.
Nielson says cutting back hours has helped take the pressure off staff who’ve been working overtime.
"We decided that maybe if we close early maybe it would get the word out, and it did we got a few applications so far," Nielson said.
Kim Carley, Executive Director of We Are Hope job hub, says many small businesses are having a hard time finding help, and the issue goes beyond seasonal jobs and fewer young people taking on part-time jobs.
"We are talking, you know, 800 to 1,000 opening positions that are open," Kim Carley said.
Carley says a lot of people are holding out for jobs that offer better benefits.
"It's hard to get people in here for reasons we can't totally control, like housing and childcare," Carley said.
The challenge could get even tougher for businesses, as the county is going through some changes.
"The opportunity for year-round positions is there right now, and didn't used to be," Carley said.
She says if those jobs remain unfilled, some employers might have to cut hours, reduce services, or even close their doors entirely.
"If you don't have the workers, you can't keep the place open," Carley said.
Melissa Martinez, general manager at Sonny’s Pizzeria, says they’re feeling the impact too.
"When school started, you know, it kinda dropped and it began progressing to where we are now," Melissa Martinez said.
Martinez says business is still strong, with customer traffic growing even after peak season, so cutting hours isn’t an option. For now, staff will just have to multitask.
