Small Business Saturday isn’t just about spending locally, which keeps money in the community.
In Southwest Florida, the event carries a new meaning: It supports small businesses that have been slammed by Hurricane Ian.
“Luckily we’re at a high point on the street,” said Cheryl Schaaf, owner of Spirit of the Earth. We had some water intrusion. The water crept in and ruined our flooring. We had to put in new flooring. We didn’t have any merchandise that was damaged.”
Saturday is “Small Business Saturday,” an event that American Express officially began in 2010. It always falls on the last Saturday of November, right after Thanksgiving. The idea is to encourage people to shop small and bring more holiday shopping to small businesses. It is estimated that many small businesses earn up to 25% of their income during the holiday shopping season.
Spirit of the Earth is located in downtown Fort Myers at 2252 First St. where some businesses are still reeling from the damage caused by Hurricane Ian. The rock shop offers an array of crystals, minerals, fossils, rocks, gems and stones.
“We were closed for exactly two weeks,” said 64-year-old Schaaf. “I called my regular tile guy, his warehouse and all his trucks were destroyed (due to Hurricane Ian). He lived out in Naples. I called over on the east coast and got a fellow who owned a company there. He came out, gave me a good estimate. I just wanted to get back (open) as soon as possible.”
In case you missed it:SWFL organizations ready to serve up all the right fixes in time for Thanksgiving
And:The SWFL nonprofit receives donations to assist girls and women with period supplies
More:Habitat for Humanity in Lee, Collier receives sizable donations to help with their mission
Schaaf said normally the store offers a sales promotion to get people to shop locally.
“We’re contemplating that right now, we just got everything back in,” said Schaaf. “I have a family member who’s very, very ill right now. So that’s been my focus right now. Usually we have a bit of a promotion to thank our customers for being so loyal to us. We get a lot of people that get a lot of comfort from the items we carry. We help them with anxieties, help children who can’t sleep. During COVID we had a lot of people in the community who came in to get sage.”
Schaaf said their most popular items are the bracelets and large specimen stones like the amethyst stones.
“A lot of people decorate their home and the stones make them feel good,” said Schaaf. “My favorite thing about owning this shop is seeing all the people, especially the kids who really get into rocks, minerals and the fossils. They come in and then they just light up. I love to see that spark.”
Tunaskin Aquatic Apparel on Fort Myers Beach created a unique way to be able to continue serving their customers.
“We lost our flagship store that we opened on Fort Myers Beach to the hurricane,” said Bill Bronsord, president of Tunaskin Aquatic Apparel. We were permitted to open a mobile pop-up at our location. And that’s what we’ve done. We had our mobile pop-up built about three weeks before the storm. We partner with a lot of big paddle boarding events, fishing tournaments, powerboat races. So that was going to be our mobile pop-up when we attend some of these events that we partner with.”
The mobile pop-up will be open on Friday and Saturday from 9 am until 5 pm at 1300 Estero Blvd., in Fort Myers Beach. The aquatic apparel shop offers an array of men’s, women’s and kids’ shorts, tops and headwear with performance and comfort in mind while in and around the water.
Bronsord said shopping locally creates jobs for local residents and the economy benefits tremendously from that local shopping experience.
“Shopping locally, especially with companies like ours, helps with the rebuilding process,” said Bronsord. We’re doing a Fort Myers Beach Strong (initiative). We have two different styles that our designers came up with that we’re selling at our pop-up. A percentage of those sales goes to some of our employees. We had two employees who lost their homes. A portion of those proceeds helped with relocation expenses and down payment on a new vehicle.”
Jennifer Williams, owner of Jennifer’s, a women’s clothing boutique in Fort Myers, said shopping locally offers that one-on-one customer experience that you can’t get when you shop online.
“In the traditional sense, you get someone to actually greet you (when you shop locally),” Williams said. We offer free gift wrapping, alterations and other extra services. “When you order something online, it’s definitely convenient. No one can say that it’s not convenient. It comes delivered right to your door. But there’s a whole social aspect of shopping at a boutique. You meet people. We’ve developed a lot of great friendships throughout the years here at the store. Our clients interact and establish friendships as well. It’s an entirely different shopping experience.”
Williams said when people support small businesses it creates a bit of uniqueness in the area.
“Every town is going to have those same big box stores, those same chains,” said Williams. “But if you support the small businesses, locally owned, there’s a lot more uniqueness and individuality that you’re going to see, which helps define our community. Since we’re so tourist driven, we need our area to look special and unique.”
Erica Van Buren is the underserved community reporter for The News-Press and Naples Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Connect with her at EVanBuren@gannett.com or on Twitter: @EricaVanBuren32