RV sales revving up as supply issues sorted out

RVs and other outdoor equipment were among the items impacted by the supply chain woes that hit many industries following the COVID pandemic.

Last year, we talked to those in the industry who said that while they were selling well, getting stock into the store was a challenge.

That seems to be at least mostly fixed this year, with stocks being stable for businesses.

Carlyle RV & Leisure general manager Joan Siebel says that she saw quite the slowdown over the past two years.

"They're actually coming stronger, now that we've inventory coming in. We struggled at the beginning, of course, to get the inventory, and then once they did have it built it's getting it here too. Once the mandate hit a lot of the transport companies lost a lot of drivers. Now we have the product coming in, it's sure making a difference."

"Can be a ladder, can be foam for cushions, could be control panel chips, it's really across the board what the problem was. At different times it was a different problem."

Siebel says that so far they've seen a mix of new and old customers, but by far their most common buyers are those looking for an upgrade.

"We've had a few first-time buyers that are excited to get camping, they're a younger couple with children, and they're looking to start a new adventure in the camping industry. What we're finding is a lot of people are even looking towards their seasonal sites and doing upgrades on their seasonal sites where they're not towing it, but they're actually pulling it just once to their seasonal (campsite)."

While they were working towards getting the new units in, they also ended up having strong sales of used outdoor equipment.

"We've got quite a few units, and then when we were working towards replenishing our new units, anything used has gone very fast. We have very limited used, so you'd get down to a couple and then you'd either get a trade-in or do a consignment. It's been a strong one for us too."