September is a notoriously tough month for small businesses. Hurricane Irma disrupted multiples days causing lost customers making things even worse for "Mom and Pop" stores.
Officials on both sides of Tampa Bay are urging residents to be good to their neighborhoods and spend some money locally.
In Tampa, the Shop Gandy! campaign gets started on Tuesday with free food and swag at the 81Bay Brewing Company: www.southtampachamber.org/events/details/shop-gandy-kick-off-event-24484.
Shop Gandy! is a partnership between Tampa, St. Petersburg and Brandon, focusing on Gandy Boulevard merchants. This is also to soothe concerns about disruptions from upcoming the Selmon Extension. Construction on the project is expected to begin early next year.
Over in St. Petersburg, Mayor Rick Kriseman signed a proclamation for Burg Buys Local Week: www.stpete.org.
The event will highlight locally owned shops and businesses especially struggling after Irma blew through. Online shopping and big national box stores are only compounding their problems.
When shopping in the 'Burg, make sure to use the #StPeteRecovers hashtag on social media to get some special attention.
