Photo Credit: The Montclair Pod
At Just Kidding Around, a beloved toy store downtown, co-owners Nessa Murphy and Chelsea Smith are trying to stay ahead of the uncertainty.
The rising cost of a toy, a car repair, or a bouquet of flowers in Montclair might seem like just another symptom of inflation. But behind those price tags are ripple effects from far bigger forces—global trade disputes, climate disruptions, and a shifting economy that’s testing even the most resilient local businesses.
From Upper Montclair to Bloomfield Avenue to the Montclair Farmers Market, shopkeepers and farmers alike are bracing for impact.
“At the end of the day, I’m not gonna be able to employ the people I employ,” says Wendy Lacey, owner of The General Store at Cornerstone Montclair on Bellevue Avenue. With proposed tariffs threatening to raise costs on imported goods and uncertainty rising by the week, Lacey and others are asking a tricky question: how much longer can they hold the line?
Here’s how economic pressure is rewriting the rules of doing business in town.
A ‘Super Sales Tax’ in Disguise
“Tariffs are a kind of super sales tax,” said longtime Montclair resident and financial journalist Tyler Mathisen. “It is not broken out as a line item on your bill when you go to Costco or when you go to Kings… but it’s in there and it will raise the prices.”
He shared a concrete example: “A neighbor of mine who works for a floral design company… many, if not most of [their flowers] come from Mexico or other places in South America… they have already been hit by tariffs. They may be hit by more. They’ve had to pass along those cost increases to consumers.”
Mathisen added that for families in Montclair, the price tag of everyday life is already climbing: “It is a lot harder for two people to get out of a nice restaurant in Montclair for under $75 or a hundred dollars.”
“At the end of the day, I’m not gonna be able to employ the people I employ.”
Wendy Lacey, owner of The General Store at Cornerstone Montclair
Local Shops Feel the Squeeze
At Just Kidding Around on Bloomfield Avenue, a beloved toy store downtown, co-owners Nessa Murphy and Chelsea Smith are trying to stay ahead of the uncertainty.
“We do anticipate having to place orders. And those orders will more than likely be tariffed in a couple of different ways,” said Smith.
“We have some companies that are kind of putting it in like, well, okay, here’s at the bottom of your invoice… you pay the surcharge,” said Smith. “Some of them are already just adding… we’re just not gonna order from these companies because it’s just too expensive.”
The impact? “It’s everything. It’s games, it’s arts and crafts. It’s building toys, it’s wooden toys. Pretend play all across the board,” said Smith.
Most of their toys come from China. And many others are from Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Germany, and France.
Sourcing exclusively from the U.S.? “Maybe in like 70 years,” they both laughed.
Farmers Face Climate and Labor Pressures
At the Montclair Farmers Market, the story shifts from tariffs to climate and labor.
“This season, cold spring weather has delayed some of John Krueger’s crops at Circle Brook Farm, forcing him to buy produce from other farms just to meet demand. “We’re buying some rhubarb right now… and that’s been very expensive. We have to sell it for $8 a pound.’”
“I use a guest worker program called H-2A… It’s gone up to $17.96 an hour this year,” Krueger added.
Across the market, Ginger Kessler of Tree-Licious Orchards reflected on a season of hard weather and hesitant customers. “For example, this past week was incredibly wet and cold… Tomatoes and pepper plants just simply do not grow when it’s this cold and wet.”
Still, she finds meaning in her work: “When you shop local, you actually know the farmer who’s behind the product. You actually know how it’s grown.”
