NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. – While thousands hit the big stores for Black Friday deaks, Volusia County shop owners are hoping the crowds will turn out for Small Business Saturday this weekend, too.
Some small business owners said in the past they’ve made up to three time what they do on a normal Saturday. They said this year the revenue is needed due to higher costs because of supply chain and labor shortage issues.
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“The shipping seems like it’s gone up a lot and there were a few items that were not in stock for quite a while,” Olio Boutique owner Angela Clarke said.
Small shop owners, like Clarke’s business in New Smyrna Beach, have learned to roll with the punches over the pandemic, seemingly facing new challenges each day.
The hope is the sales she and others are offering on Flagler Avenue will bring more customers in for much-needed revenue, and, like many Central Florida main streets, the businesses are banding together this year to help each other out.
“This year we have wine walk and we have market days, which is a new thing where we have models out on the street (on Saturday),” she said.
What’s in stock though for shoppers could be a little different or more expensive. Supply chain issues have raised the cost of items or heavily delayed shipping.
“We just raised our coffee prices for the first time in eight years. It was really hard for us to do because we don’t want to,” said Kira Clawson, manager at Island Roasters Coffee Company.
She said they had no choice because they were having a hard time getting coffee shipped in from other countries.
“We just are now kind of getting back to where we were with the coffee, but now we’re finding (trouble with) other things, like milk, eggs,” she said.
She said they’re finally fully staffed just in time for the holiday season after about a year of dealing with a labor shortage.
Even with all the challenges she’s faced, though, she plans to help other small businesses on Saturday, like letting food trucks set up in the parking lot.
“Anybody who wanted to come set up in our parking lot or do that, we would love to have that happen,” she said.