BATON ROUGE - Victoria's Toys on Government Street has been in business for nearly 40 years, but this year has been particularly difficult.

"Price increases, freight charge increase and that we had to get orders in early..." owner Katie Shoriak said.

Local toy stores are feeling the effects of the nationwide supply shortage.

Though their shops are full now, owners say what you see is what they have.

"A lot of our companies are not even taking orders. They have said you have what you have."

One shop owner says they still haven't received more than 60 percent of the inventory they ordered back in June.

In Zachary, at Whimsical Alley, owner Carrie Godbold says it's been difficult to get specific inventory. 

"Some of our favorite fidgets," Godbold said. "Fidgets are all the rage this year. All the pop its and mystery fidgets and all that kind of stuff."

The solution they say is to get your Christmas shopping done as soon as you can.

"Start now. Buy it now. We'll wrap it for you. You can keep it here. That way you can get that item that you know your kids want," Shoriak said.

"We're pretty well stocked right now. But if we start selling out of things we can try to reorder still but as we get closer to Christmas, we might have some trouble," Godbold said.

They said shoppers should be prepared to pay a little more, as increased shipping costs are causing owners to make up the difference on toy prices. The National Retail Federation reported the cost of shipping containers is jumping from as little as $3,500 at one time to over $20,000.