VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:
Local small businesses thrive at Harvey’s Garden Holiday Market
Olivia Rodriguez: In business, they say the customer is king. However at Harvey’s Garden Holiday Market the customer is your neighbor and so is the seller.
Alexandra McLelland: It’s not like going into a gallery where it’s 300 (dollars) for a piece this size. So I want art to be accessible.
Rodriguez: Here, accessibility is key. Harvey’s Garden invited local vendors from across Syracuse to showcase products ahead of the holiday season. And for some small business owners, like Chloe Phelps, today is just another step in growing her business offline.
Chloe Phelps: When COVID hit everyone was like chronically online I feel like so I was seeing a lot of people do art like especially on shoes. And I was like ‘Okay that’d be cool. I think I could try that’. So I made a pair for myself, I ended up posting them on Etsy, and it kinda blew up.
Rodriguez: Now Etsy that active sellers on the website during the pandemic nearly doubled. Between 2019 with around two million sellers to 2021 with over five million active sellers. Now most people recognize that most of these businesses were just fads of the pandemic. But the ones here today represent the businesses that could go the distance.
Phelps: 2021 to 2022 I sold like 400 pairs of shoes.
Rodriguez: The National Retail Federation predicts that this year will reach over one trillion dollars in holiday sales for the first time ever. But what that number doesn’t include, is the number of small businesses that rely on in person customers when online shopping isn’t enough.
McLelland: It seems that art doesn’t really seem to sell as well online or at least that’s been my experience. People really like coming in person and touching the art.
Rodriguez: With the rise of retail holiday shopping, small vendors say that it’s the community touch that sets their businesses apart. Making everlasting memories for their customers.
Phelps: A lady who since her daughter was born got one, two, three year-old birthday shirts.
McLelland: I sold a Syracuse Crunch hockey one that someone was buying for her fiancée and she was just crying. She was so happy.
Rodriguez: Because every dollar spent on a local small business is a dollar spent on your neighbor. Making the holidays a little bit more joyful. Olivia Rodriguez NCC News.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – Five years ago, during the pandemic, most people took up crafts, bread baking or other hobbies to fill the time. A few even turned those hobbies into temporary online businesses. But for some, an Etsy business is so much more than a hobby or time-filler; it’s a way of life.
“When COVID hit everyone was chronically online I feel like, so I was seeing a lot of people do art like especially on shoes,” said 22 year-old small business owner Chloe Phelps. “And I was like ‘Okay that’d be cool. I think I could try that’. So I made a pair for myself, I ended up posting them on Etsy, and it kinda blew up.”
Harvey’s Garden, a local self described “food truck park and beer hall”, opened up its upstairs loft to local vendors over the weekend for a Holiday Market; inviting customers to check up local pop-ups for their holiday shopping. Phelps’ business, ChloeJoyCo., has grown exponentially and now sells sweatshirts, tote bags, and custom shoe designs. But most importantly, the bulk of her products are localized. As a small business owner, she’s made Syracuse a prime inspiration in her art and business. The same goes for Alexandra McLelland, an art seller also at the holiday market.
“It’s not like going into a gallery where it’s 300 [dollars] for a piece this size,” said McLelland. “So I want art to be accessible.”
For local vendors, events like the Holiday Market underscore the importance of supporting local. The National Retail Federation predicts that this year will reach over one trillion dollars in holiday sales for the first time ever. But what that number doesn’t include is the number of small businesses that rely on in person customers when online shopping isn’t enough.
“It seems that art doesn’t really seem to sell as well online or at least that’s been my experience,” said McLelland. “People really like coming in person and touching the art.”
With the Holiday Market, local vendors are given the opportunity to show what truly sets them apart from large retailers: personal connection. With the market’s person-to-person experience, complete with food and music, Harvey’s Garden turns from a restaurant into a true third space, giving both customers and sellers and opportunity to connect with each other.
“A lady who since her daughter was born got one, two, three year-old birthday shirts,” Phelps said about some of her best experiences she’s had with local customers.
It’s an event that turns the spirit of the holidays, giving back and paying it forward, to a real and tangible experience. Because every dollar spent on a local small business is a dollar spent on your neighbor. Making the holidays a little bit more joyful.