Big business for small shops

Downtown Port Washington was bustling Saturday as the holiday shopping season got underway, bolstered by Port Main Street Inc.’s Shop Local Small Business Saturday event.

“I’m hearing good reports,” Kristina Tadeo, executive director of Main Street, said. “People are saying this was the busiest Small Business Saturday they remember. It was a great kickoff to the holiday season.

“There were lines at multiple businesses as they opened. I got to see the long lines at registers.

“To see the support of local residents for our businesses means so much.”

Business owners concurred.

Kelly Brown, owner of Locally Inspired, said her business over the weekend was 40% higher than it was last year.

“It was very busy Saturday,” she said.

She had 40 swag bags to give away to her customers and said they were all gone within 15 minutes of opening her shop.

“I was very glad I was in my new space,” said Brown, whose shop recently moved to a larger harborfront location in the Port Shopping Center. “It allowed me to have so many people in my store at once.”

Brown said last year’s shopping season amid the pandemic opened peoples eyes to the importance of local businesses.

“I hear people saying, ‘I make an effort to support local businesses.’ People truly appreciate that,” she said. 

Staci Cherubini, who owns Halo Artisan Skin Care, said she, too, had a line outside her store when she opened Saturday.

Within minutes after opening, she said, “it was jam-packed. We didn’t even realize our open sign wasn’t on until 2 o’clock.”

And business, she said, didn’t slow until about 4:15 p.m.

Cherubini, who moved her shop to Port from Bayview earlier this year, said that traffic on Saturday was comparable to that of Bayview on the same weekend.

And after a relatively slow year in which she opened her business in a former law office building, the momentum and awareness Small Business Saturday brought was more than welcome, she said.

“I thought it was awesome,” she said.

Friday and Saturday were both busy days at Sharbuno Jewelers, owner Tom Sharbuno said.

“Even though it was Black Friday, it was really jumping on Friday,” he said. “People are really appreciating the small-town atmosphere and the service you get. 

“And it’s this time of year. People are shopping and that’s a good thing.”

It was also busy at the Chocolate Chisel, where they held a customer appreciation day Saturday, owner Elizabeth MacCrimmon said.

“We’re making chocolates as fast as we can,” she said. “We were busy until 4 o’clock. The Covid year (2020) was so challenging. It’s starting to feel much better. More and more people are getting the vaccine, and there are people just starting to come out again. I had customers who say, ‘I haven’t been in your store for two years.’ That gives me a good feeling”

Tadeo said consumers are shopping downtown for all those reasons and more. After all the talk of supply chain issues, shipping delays and shortages of popular items, people are looking to support their local communities.

“Shopping local is a great way to avoid all that,” she said. “I think the trend of shopping local is picking up. You can find unique and special local gifts.”

And having an event that encompassed many of the downtown shops, restaurants and businesses helped everyone, she said.

“People have been telling me it was the busiest Small Business Saturday they remember,” Tadeo said. “Across the board, I think it was a great day.” 

Helping draw the crowd to downtown were the swag bags filled with goodies and coupons given to early customers at eight downtown businesses Saturday. 

On a day when people might have been inclined to stay home for a time, they brought out shoppers who came early and stayed downtown.

“I noticed people in line were asking, ‘Can we buy a tote?’” Cherubini said. “A lot of people liked them.”

Other merchants have told her that the bags helped bring people to their stores, she added.

“Giving away those bags really drew people in,” Brown said. “I think that really helped us. People were asking for them later in the day.”

Cherubini said she’s already had return visitors who brought in the coupons they found in their swag bags.

Brown concurred, saying, “I had several people that said I’m coming back for gifts. I do think it (the traffic) is going to continue.”

That’s one of the goals of Small Business Saturday, Tadeo said — to expose residents to businesses they might not know about and to draw them back when they’ve seen what downtown has to offer.

“I hope people come out and enjoy downtown,” she said. “Small Business Saturday got people downtown to see what wonderful shops we have. We hope this was a good kickoff and it will continue throughout the season.”

And that bodes well for the remainder of the holiday shopping season and beyond, especially with the popular Christmas on the Corner event coming up on Saturday, Dec. 4, Tadeo said.

“We have a lot of fun businesses and a lot to do downtown,” she said. “And it sounds like people are excited to do things together again.”