DELAND, Fla. – Many local businesses are still feeling the effects of Hurricane Dorian. Now, many shops and restaurants are struggling to make up for lost Labor Day weekend business and remindreminding folks how important it is to shop local.
"Local businesses are the heart of America," said Melissa Reed.
Reed is the owner of The Table in Downtown DeLand and said the restaurant is still trying to recover from Hurricane Dorian after she closed up shop for five days.
"We really suffered. We couldn't get trucks in, we couldn't get deliveries in because what if the power went out? What if we lost everything once we brought it in?" said Reed. "All the other restaurant owners that I spoke to had the same challenges where we were in the same boat."
But on Sunday, it was a different story. The sounds of clinking glasses and dishes was the sweet sound of making money.
"We're really banking on every weekend to make up for it at this point," said Reed.
Just a couple of blocks over and tucked away in Artisan Alley is Nest, a local gift shop and wine bar that's now owned by Sandy Bobo. Bobo said this week was completely dead. She closed her doors for four days due to Hurricane Dorian and said she usually counts on the Artisan Alley Farmers Market on Friday nights for business.
"Typically, from there to here, you can't see because there's so many people. I was looking across, and there was nobody," said Bobo.
Bobo was back to work today, gearing up for her wine event called Yappy Hour, where 10% of the proceeds go to Halifax Humane Society. She hopes the event will attract even more customers to make up for last weekend.
"We can't survive without our community," she said.
Reed agrees.
"Small-town America is real. Everybody wants to get back to their roots and go back to handcrafted things and supporting locals, and we need you," she said.