CASSELBERRY, Fla. – A small, family-owned grocery store in Casselberry is hoping a U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning some Trump-era tariffs could help ease rising costs and bring relief to both businesses and customers.
At Casselberry Meat and Produce, manager Yenny Bisono says tariffs on imported goods have made it harder to keep prices affordable in recent years.
“Prices have gone up a lot, especially our produce,” Bisono said. “Anything coming from Brazil, from Canada, the tariffs have increased a lot of our prices, which makes it really hard on us, because we’re such a small neighborhood market.”
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Tariffs are taxes placed on imported goods. Businesses often pay those costs upfront, which can lead to higher prices for customers.
Bisono said those higher prices have affected sales.
“People don’t want to pay those high prices, and that makes it harder on us,” she said. “Our sales go down. And that’s not fun for anybody.”
She said some imported items, including mangoes from Brazil, often go unsold because customers don’t want to pay the higher price.
“I have people all the time come in and they’re like, ‘1.89 for a mango,’ and they walk out,” Bisono said. “They don’t buy the mangoes. Sometimes they go bad, and that doesn’t help us.”
The Supreme Court’s decision could reverse some of those tariffs, though the full impact remains uncertain.
“God willing, I hope that the prices go down,” Bisono said. “That would be really good for my store and for the community as well.”
Bisono said refunds for tariffs already paid would help even more, but for now, she is hopeful future costs will decrease.
“If they give us refunds, that’d be amazing,” she said. “But if not, I’m just praying that tariffs do go down and that over time business will be able to pick back up.”
For small, family-owned stores like Casselberry Meat and Produce, even small changes in costs can have a significant impact — both on their business and the customers they serve.