ST. GEORGE, Utah — Are you feeling the whiplash from tariff policy? Now imagine you ran a store that specializes in international products like Mountain Dew from Dubai and candy bars from the UK.
Fren3y in St. George is what its owners call a fun, unique, eclectic collection of items that focus on vintage and pop culture.
Natalie and Aaron Hoff opened Fren3y at The Shoppes at Zion five years ago, and they made sure to spell Fren3y what they say is the right way.
"So the three represents our faith, family, and friends, and in that order," Natalie explained.
Baby boomers, as well as those from generations Alpha to X to Z, will find the movies and TV of the past, sports collectibles, comic books and Sci-Fi inside the store.
But the biggest draw is the international candies like the Cadbury Wispa bars from the UK or an Aero from Canada. And Fren3y is one of the few places for hundreds of miles where one can get Pokémon cards directly from Japan.
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"We just got the Pokémon machine," said Natalie. "We get people from all over the world... a lot of them come in and they speak very little English, and yet they'll see the Pokémon cards and their face lights up!"
But when you’re a small business relying on shipments from overseas, this has been a year of uncertainty. Are the tariff taxes on … or off? Thursday started with one court blocking President Donald Trump’s tariffs, and just a couple of hours later, another judge allowed them to continue… for now.
"In the last couple months, we have had a lot of could-be's, a lot of could-be's. And so you have to anticipate," Natalie explained. "We've been pleasantly surprised with the partners we've worked with. Some of the communication was on point.
"But we kind of anticipated, 'Okay, what will this look like? What will we be able to absorb?'"
Huff added that the store's suppliers haven't been disrupted as of yet, and neither has their pricing, which they're excited about.
