Some local merchants were pleasantly surprised to see a good deal of traffic on Small Business Saturday, despite the coronavirus pandemic.
has two locations 鈥� one in Cleveland鈥檚 Gordon Square neighborhood and another in Cuyahoga Falls. Owner Kristin Hadari says at both stores, foot traffic was about even with last year鈥檚 post-Thanksgiving shopping weekend.
鈥淧eople are making more of an effort to shop local and support their communities so they will survive this. I鈥檓 hoping it does continue as long as it鈥檚 safe for everyone to continue to shop.鈥�
And in Akron, is a dessert stand run by Takila. She says from her vantage point, she gets a good view of the foot traffic at the Northside Market. 鈥淗onestly, it was a typical Saturday for me; it wasn鈥檛 nothing crazy. Traffic was steady pretty much all day,鈥� Takila said.
But while she adds she was pleased to see the traffic, if it weren鈥檛 for coronavirus 鈥� the crowds could have been bigger.
Kate Schlademan, owner of The Learned Owl in Hudson and a past president of the , agrees. She says online sales seem to be up this year. But in-person shopping remained steady, even though stores had to limit the number of people inside to maintain social distancing.
鈥淔or book stores, people still really like to shop in-store, according to Schalderman. They like to see what they鈥檙e getting. They like to be able to feel the books. Books are a very tactile experience, especially kids鈥� books. So, mostly, people still like to come in.鈥�
Schlademan says they also got an unexpected boost on Saturday morning, when 鈥淭onight Show鈥� host Jimmy Fallon encouraged people on social media to visit independent book stores. And at the top of his post was a listing for The Learned Owl.
