LUBBOCK, Texas—Phillip Howard pointed toward a stack of black ski pants piled atop a counter in his winter sports shop as evidence of the hurdles small business owners still face as the pandemic drags on.
The pants were supposed to arrive by August at Troy’s Ski Lubbock shop in west Texas—well before his five-month hot season of selling that kicks off in October. Instead, they came from China the first week of January, delayed by supply-chain failures.
