WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. — A little caffeine can go a long way this holiday season.
Savannah Walsh is a baker at Provisions Coffee and Kitchen at the KRATE at the Grove in Wesley Chapel.
Before the pandemic, she said business was consistent, but as the pandemic drew on the spending began to fall behind.
Walsh said even with a strained economy, people are coming back to support local, and she's hoping that stays steady into the holiday season.
"It is very community based and everything like that and especially with the struggles small businesses have had in the past few years," Walsh said.
Eveline Scobie knows the importance of shopping local and shares that with her grandchildren. She often visits the KRATE at the Grove with them.
"Supporting the local businesses, they have a lot invested, and usually if you own your own business, you are working twice as hard as the next guy. so, yeah, that’s important,” Scobie said.
It's not just the retail shops to think of on this upcoming small business Saturday.
Owen Robertson with the Lab Theater Project is hoping people will remember the arts as well.
"Most of us survived because of the work of artists and art gave us ways out. Ways to survive confinement being trapped inside our homes and things like that. Supporting a local theater is a way to continue that," Robertson said.
New this year, the Lab Theater Project will begin selling season tickets.
Robertson credits the STRIVE program at the Hillsborough County Community College for the start of his third business.
The program has helped a number of veteran entrepreneurs through its six-week training program.
Those who graduated have now planted roots in the bay area and hope shoppers will remember that during the holiday rush.
In a press conference Monday, Congresswoman Kathy Castor stressed the importance of shopping local and said she hopes the early shoppers will think of their neighbors before the big box stores this season.
