The economic effects from the coronavirus in China are being felt in North Liberty, Iowa this month.
Heart-to-Heart Bridal Boutique sells formal wedding and prom dresses. Boutique manager Rochelle Jeffers tells KCRG-TV 9 almost all of the dresses come from China and now that Chinese factories are shutting down from the spread of coronavirus, the dresses now in stock are all they have.
“They stopped cutting the dresses, so they don't make them anymore, so whatever is in stock is all that we can order,” Jeffers says.
She says while their bridal dress supply hasn't been affected much by shutdowns in Chinese factories, its prom dresses have.
University of Iowa business and analytics professor Jennifer Blackhurst says just about every industry will be impacted by the outbreak.
It's not just the formal gown industry that’s feeling the ripple effects of the coronavirus outbreak. "So much comes out of China these days that I think we're going to see just about every industry impacted by this,” Jennifer Blackhurst, a business analytics professor at the University of Iowa’s Tippie College of Business told KCRG-TV 9.
Blackhurst says that impact is heightened by how interconnected international supply chains are.
"If a company here doesn't have a direct supplier, let's say, in China, they might have a supplier in China, and so I think over the long term, I think we're going to see a more severe impact over time,” Blackhurst said.