Specialty food stores see bump in sales because of tariff concerns, new data shows

CARY, N.C. (WTVD) — Small-business owner Anthony Misso has been encouraging customers to stock up on wine before potential tariffs hit. He owns Capriflavors Italian Market in Cary and has an extensive selection from all across Italy.

Misso said people have been grabbing extra bottles.

“You can hold those wines for a certain amount of time,” he said.

The analytics company Pass_By finds that foot traffic is up overall by 6% at a number of stores, and it says “the trend suggests that tariff concerns are continuing to influence consumer behavior in real time.”

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The specialty-food-stores sector is seeing one of the highest increases at almost 37%.

Olha Rudenko is from Ukraine. She lives in Benson and drove to Cary to get some of her favorite goods at Golden Hex European Food Market while prices are still relatively reasonable.

“I (am) used to pay that extra already,” said Rudenko. “Prices going up are going to be a problem, but it is what it is. I cannot do anything about it.”

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Misso said that nearly everything in his store is imported. He said that most items arrive fresh from overseas, and he doesn’t have the storage space to stockpile them himself ahead of the possible tariffs.

“It’s going to be hard,” said Misso. “Unfortunately, people love these products and they’re going to get them if the prices go maybe even more.”

Other businesses, such as breweries, are stockpiling supplies.