MILTON — Santa Rosa County small businesses' holiday sales have begun. Visiting local shops and speaking with people there reveal reasons why people support small business.
Rhonda Olson, the owner of Rhonda's Aviary at 5675 Highway 90 in Milton, said when she started her shop 10 years ago, she specialized in birds because the area doesn't need another dog-and-cat store. She started with birds and broadened to reptiles and sugar gliders, small marsupials in the possum family.
Olson said when people support small businesses they're helping someone pay the rent or a car payment. "July through October is rough," she said.
While her store has holiday discounts, Olson said tax return season is her busy time.
"On Black Friday, everybody hits the big-box stores, then they shop for the animal lover," she said.
Around tax season, she said, is when people can afford large birds, like Panama Amazon parrots, and cages.
Shopping for children's clothing at Kiddie Closet, at 5675 Highway 90 in Milton, Sarah Robertson said she prefers to shop smaller business.
"They're people like me and you trying to do something in life,” she said. “They're not a chain." Robertson, who said she works at the lab at Santa Rosa Medical Center, said, "I work in the community so it's nice to meet people."
Michelle Richard owns Kiddie Closet with her mother, Lillian Robertson, unrelated to Sarah. The holiday shopping season is important for the children's clothing and toy store, but Richard and her mother focus on going beyond retail for customers.
Richard said there have been times when families come into Kiddie Closet with children lacking shoes and socks and she and her mother make sure the children leave with footwear, paid or not.
Small businesses support each other, she said. For example, she and her mother eat at Wide Awake! Cafe and All About Food.
While two of these businesses celebrate 10 years this year, Mama Latte's — located at 5412 Stewart St., across from Milton High School — navigates the holiday season for the first time.
Mama Latte's has a blend of hot coffee and cold frappuccino drinks, breakfast baked goods, and sandwiches.
Its owners, China Holcombe and Chris Baker, decided to close the store on Black Friday, but open on Small Business Saturday. They figured most residents would go straight to the big-box stores, nowhere near the café, on Black Friday.
On Saturday, they offered double stamps on their customer loyalty cards.
"We just really hope people recognize us," she said. "With winter coming, we hope to keep everybody warm."
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Small businesses prepared for holiday season