GREENSBORO, N.C. — Stores dealt with Black Friday crowds all day Friday but the day after, small retailers were able to thrive during Small Business Saturday.
Some businesses in Greensboro said after struggling last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, they've been doing very well this holiday season.
Just Be has been on Elm Street in Greensboro for 16 years and the owner, Kathryn Hashemi, said shopping local is important.
“Small businesses are what give cities their character and so I think shopping small really supports the character of our city and it supports your whole community”, Hashemi said.
With over 40 local artists' products in their store, when you support Just Be, Hashemi said you are supporting 40 other artists in the area.
Scuppernong Books, another small business in Greensboro said supporting small businesses keeps a community going.
“What makes Greensboro, downtown Greensboro interesting are all of these small idiosyncratic stores. They don’t make it without this kind of dedicated, intentional support and days like today" owner Brian Lampkin said.
Fiber Space, a coworking space in Greensboro said they had a diverse amount of people walk through their doors Saturday, which is important for business.
“We are the community, we are the same people that go to school and go to church and we support the other businesses down here too so it’s a cycle", Sheena White, Fiber Space owner said. "We support each other and we support our community in different ways and that community supports us”.
With Great Care Apparel owner, Yusha Assad agrees. “Spending dollars with people that you know always comes back to your community and I think that’s the biggest thing for small businesses. You’re putting money in dollars of people that you know and then, in turn, we get to hire the people we know so it becomes a cyclical thing that just elevates the community totality so we are thankful for that”, Assad said.
A lot of small business owners said that even after the holiday season, they want to encourage shoppers to visit local stores and shop small. All of the businesses mentioned have online stores, so you can even continue to shop local without leaving your home.