Small Business Saturday recap

Small Business Saturday recap

Small business saturday brought a surprising turnout according to business owners.

Some say it was great while others say it's now raising concerns for the future of their business.

News 18's micah upshaw joins us live in lafayette to explain why.

Micah?

This past saturday was crucial for local businesses -- since many were forced to close for a period of time earlier in the pandemic.

Whether sales were good or bad this weekend, these owners agree that it's going to take continued support to make it through these tough times.

A: i just can not believe the support of this community to come out of a small business saturday during a pandemic to support us small business owners.

M: aurora wilson, owner of essentially aqua says this weekend went better than she imagined.

She's been in business for three years mainly selling her body and beauty items online and at pop-up events.

But this year she decided to officially open her brick and mortar the week before thanksgiving.

A: for seven straight hours we had this place packed.

So i had over 200 sales on saturday which was pretty fantastic.

The average sale, you know, it was a little higher because it is the gift giving season and so i was seeing people buy a little bit for themselves but mostly for others.

M: wilson believes the excitement of her being a new downtown business may have drawn in customers.

Mccord's candies just across the street also saw a decent amount of business.

However, owner denise bootsma says it wasn't nearly enough to make her confident about the survival of her candy store.

D: we brought in half the money that we made last year during small business saturday so that's been our best day of this whole year since coronavirus so it's really cutting in.

M: bootsma says mccord's heavily depends on the holiday season to keep them afloat all the way until halloween season the following year.

She's worried.

D: people just aren't supporting small businesses and they're closing and to be quiet honest, we're on the verge of..

I mean that could happen here very, very easily so it's so important for the community to support your small businesses especially during coronavirus.

M: lori schlaifer, owner of boutique lori ann agrees.

L: we really appreciate all the support we got for small business saturday but we need it to continue all year long because we can't survive on just one good day a year.

This small business saturday isn't it for these downtown businesses.

More than a dozen stores will be participating in another weekend sales event on saturday dec.

19.

You can learn more about it on our website wlfi.com.

Reporting live in lafayette, micah upshaw.

News 18.

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