Nov. 25—Today is Small Business Saturday and a quick walk through downtown Lockport will reveal many such businesses anchored on and around Main Street.
If it's so much easier to shop online, why bother checking them out?
"It's a more personable experience. There's more interaction," offered Nancy Franklin, the owner-operator of the recently launched soap and skin care shop, Eclectic Scents, at the Bewley Building.
Inside the Bewley Building on Market at Main Street, there's a variety of small shops selling everything from coffee and books to haircuts and smoking paraphernalia.
Franklin is new to the brick-and-mortar retail scene, but she has been selling her products for 10 years at farmers markets. Since opening her store on Oct. 10, she's happy to say, "I've made at least one sale every day."
For all the supposed benefits of online shopping, Franklin noted, one of the things it does not offer is a sensory experience. Online, there's no way to sample the various scents of her handmade soaps and lotions.
Eclectic Scents and neighboring Bewley Building tenants Terroir General Store, Bling and Lock City Books are taking part in the Light Up Lockport-related "hot cocoa trail" from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. today. The gist is, children get the ingredients for hot cocoa at participating stores while their parents get to shop without being distracted.
At Lock City Books, owner-operator Holly Edwards points out another benefit of "shopping small."
"We put some of our profits towards the local community," she said.
Edwards opened Lock City Books in 2019 and found there were a lot of challenges, the biggest one being getting her store on people's radar.
"Even after being open for four years, people still say they never knew Lockport had a bookstore," she said.
Edwards has tried a few things to get Lock City Books on local consumers' radar — hosting events and special guests, some book- and author-related and some not. Her shop is a place where the animal rescue outfit Cat-by-Cat is showing cats available for adoption.
A few blocks away, at Locust and South streets, one of the oldest small businesses in the city, Gould's Flowers and Gifts, is still going strong after about 150 years.
The owner-operator, fourth-generation florist Janet Gould, said there's really no secret to longevity. It just takes a lot of hard work and planning, not just during the holidays but throughout the year.
"And it is a gamble. It's what (does) everyone want? and since you can't know that, you buy what you like," she said.