Supporting small businesses helps them support community

Stacy Wolford, owner of S&H Variety in downtown Keyser, urges everyone to support their locally-owned businesses not only on Small Business Saturday but every day. She says supporting local businesses helps those businesses support the community.
Stacy Wolford, owner of S&H Variety in downtown Keyser, urges everyone to support their locally-owned businesses not only on Small Business Saturday but every day. She says supporting local businesses helps those businesses support the community.

KEYSER - With Black Friday shopping on everyone’s mind, local independent business owners are hoping everyone takes the time to remember Small Business Saturday that follows.

Locally-owned small businesses are often the staple in your community and they need shoppers’ support now more than ever.

Stacy Wolford, owner of S&H Variety in downtown Keyser, wants people to remember the small locally-owned businesses and shop there because they work really hard to keep them open.

“We serve our community and then put money back into our community,” Stacy says. “The more support I get from customers, the more I can be better and give more back to my customers.”

Stacy said that local businesses care about those in the community, and she gives back at every opportunity.

“I am glad I run on donations, because it allows me to give back even more,” she says.

Stacey has given a helping hand to those who lost their homes in fires, those who are homeless, and those who are just in need.

”We give several outfits to each family member after a house fire. We give hats, scarfs, and blankets to the homeless or those cold in the winter,” she says. “The firefighters, or Helping Hands know they can always reach out to me and I will help. Sometimes I just send a hungry person across the street to the Royal for some much needed food,” she adds.

“Us small business need the support now more than ever.”

Diana Never at Five Star Pawn, also on Main Street, says they try to keep prices low enough for their customers every day, and they ask their customers to remember to support the little guys.

“We need to support small businesses over large chains, because they are a part of the community and the chain stores don’t care about local community,” she says.

Diana adds that they care about those in their community and they always chose to shop local whenever they can.

J&S Pawn and Guns, located on Mineral Street in Keyser, says they operate solely on local customers. Manager Kate Housel says they are an upcycle kind of business and are proud to be a local store in the local community.

“We buy from local people, which helps them out, and we sell to local people to help them out,” she says.

Kate says with things being harder than ever for many people right now, when you buy from them, you know you helped a neighbor in the community as well.

“With local support we’re able to help more people who may be going through a hard time,” she explained.

Kate said with the holidays coming up, many people need loans to get through. “With customers shopping here we are then in turn able to help more people when they come in to get a loan or get rid of something they no longer need,” she says. “We count on our customers’ support and we want to take care of our local customers as well.”

Good As New says they have always relied on local customer support, and it is what keeps them going. Owner Marsha Ellifritz says that people should try to support community-run businesses over big corporations because the money stays int the community.

“We offer new items, furniture, mattresses, linens, and just about anything you could need at prices those in the community can afford,” she says.

Marsha adds that they are able to do so by local customer support that they appreciate.

Burgess Farm Service has been locally owned and operated for many years, and new local owner Whitney Nester says that supporting your locally-owned community businesses is very important - not just for the owners, but for the community as well.

“Small local business put back into the community; we’re people in the community, and we’re part of the community,” she said. “We are the ones supporting the schools, little league, sports teams, FFA, and 4-H.” Whitney says that local businesses help local people and they always need your support.

When there is a benefit or a local fundraiser, you can always count on the local businesses to offer items or gift cards to help the event out. They fund many things in the community and on Small Business Saturday and every other day, they depend on the community to support them.

Barbara High is an award-winning staff writer/photographer with the Mineral Daily News Tribune and can be reached at bhigh@newstribune.info.

This article originally appeared on Mineral Daily News-Tribune: Small Business Saturday: Supporting small businesses helps them support community