ST CHARLES, Mo. — This weekend is your last chance to buy final Christmas gifts for your loved ones, before they close up for the holidays. Right now small businesses are seeing quite possibly the busiest shopping weekend of the year.
5 On Your Side checked in with some small businesses in St. Charles on this busy weekend. Customers at Cozy Shop on Main Street were cramming inside Saturday morning.
Owner Lydia Crespo says shopping small makes a difference.
“It’s a way to make it special," she said. “It’s a way to find something unique and really speak to the heart of the person you’re buying for.”
Down the street, Provenance Soapworks owner Carolyn Holden said this weekend is their busiest on record.
“Small business Saturday, Black Friday, those are good days but they’re nothing like this," she said.
But last-minute shopping strikes a chord for some shoppers, like mother Tiana Fleming.
“I can always go shopping throughout the year, but when it’s last minute and I see it, I know it’s really for them," she said of shopping for her daughters.
Small business owners recognize a simple joy this year: people coming out to shop.
“Just seeing how things are now it definitely feels like things are back to the way they are pre-2020," she said.
They're reminding everyone why this time of year is crucial to their own success.
“That’s why it’s really important to shop local this time of year because that fourth quarter is make or break for a lot of shops," she said.