March 29, 2024

Small Business Saturday in Creston

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Creston community businesses participated in Small Business Saturday this past weekend.

First recognized in 2010, Small Business Saturday annually encourages holiday shoppers to visit locally owned brick and mortar stores, functioning as a counterpart to Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

“The customers tend to hit the big box stores on Friday and then come see us on Saturday,” said Darlene Riley, owner of Hazel Maries in Creston. “It’s been keeping us busy.”

Small Business Saturday may not have the same in sales as Black Friday, but business owners say that getting customers in the door is an investment on its own.

“We are busier than Black Friday,” said Meg McGrath, owner of Coen’s Furniture. “Not everyone is shopping but there are a lot of people out getting ideas for the holidays.”

Business owners say the holiday brought in a mix of in-town and out of town customers, with majority being area locals.

“I’d say about 70% of our customers today are from in town,” said McGrath.

The holiday wasn’t the only thing contributing to the influx of business Saturday.

“A lot of people seem to be just wandering around because it’s nice out,” said Kasey Smith, purchasing specialist and co-owner of The Bookwyrm.

While the physical locations were tending to business as usual, Creston Community High School students held the grand opening of The Crossing — a student run retail store that sells student designed goods as well as Booster Club merchandise.

“In the morning we had a lot of people come by,” said Brodie Wallace, student vice president of the executive team behind The Crossing. “Some people didn’t even buy, they just wanted to check out what we are doing.”

The Crossing was open from 10 a.m. Saturday until 1:45 p.m. and was located in the Fareway parking lot. Wallace said there was high community interest in the business and that sales reflected the store’s debut.

“We had around 30 customers and made $800 just from the Booster Club merch,” said Wallace. “We also sold quite a few of our own designs, and customers gave some good feedback.”

The Crossing intends to be open for business next during the Creston Lighted Christmas Parade this Thursday in uptown Creston. The location of the store during the event is currently undecided.