Inside Nicole and Jack Curtis’ Elements Cafe in Lackawanna County there’s a water wall, a fireplace and mushroom wallpaper. They consider their customers the fifth element.
The cafe on Main Street in Carbondale Twp. opened two months ago, amid an uncertain economy that has customers saving rather than spending.
"You pretty much have to step it up to where people want to come for good food and good bakery items and good coffee,” Jack Curtis said.
The Curtises are familiar with the burden of increased costs. They first ran a cafe and dollar store up the road from their current location but had to close because of an increase in rent and utilities.
The new location is smaller but Jack Curtis said they couldn’t pass up the great deal on the space. The couple spent the past year renovating the cafe, which is known for its Detroit-style pizza.
What they found is that their loyal customers came back.
"It's like family,” Nicole Curtis said.
Event drives sales for small businesses
Businesses, like Elements, will be celebrated across the region and the country today. Customers are encouraged to ditch Amazon, big box stores and chains and shop local during Small Business Saturday.
Black Friday is the kickoff for many to the holiday shopping season. Held the day after, Small Business Saturday aims to drive sales for small businesses not just during peak holiday spending season but also all year long.
The annual event was founded by American Express in 2010 to help businesses impacted by the financial crisis of 2008. Since it was founded, Americans have spent over $200 billion at small businesses on Small Business Saturday, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Scranton Tomorrow is downtown Scranton’s neighborhood champion, which means the group host events for the yearly tradition.
This year the community and economic development organization hit a milestone — 55 businesses are participating in the event, Business Development Director Liz Baldi said. That’s the most that has ever joined Small Business Saturday.
"It just signifies how much downtown has grown truly and how everybody really does they see the value in participating,” Baldi said.
Scranton Tomorrow found local shops and restaurants rely on revenues from Small Business Saturday through the holidays to help them grow, she said. It’s the most meaningful day of the year for them.
“Saturday now is a bigger day financially for the small businesses than Black Friday has ever been," Baldi said. "And it really tells them, can they retain staff? Can they hire new employees? Can they move forward with the business improvements and growth plans that they've worked on for years?”
Scranton Tomorrow’s footprint covers from Jefferson to Mifflin avenues and from Lackawanna Avenue to Pine Street in the city. Other organizations, such as United Neighborhood Centers, are considered neighborhood champions for other parts of the city.
Deals, discounts and events for Small Business Saturday
The Greater Wyoming Valley Chamber of Commerce and the Diamond City Partnership (DCP) together are Wilkes-Barre’s neighborhood champion.
They hoped 50 businesses would participate this year, said chamber director Ahmad Ali. They have 54.
“Everybody's getting into the Holy Spirit. We want to encourage people to shop local, support local first,” he said. “We know of all the unique businesses that are here in the area, and we want to find the best way to showcase that to the entire community.”
The chamber and DCP promotes the deals and discounts offered by businesses on Saturday. Together they host the Holiday Vendor Market in The Bank Downtown Lobby on West Market Street.
This year, there’s also a trail of giant candy canes that will guide shoppers to local restaurants with holiday specials.
"They are the backbone of our economy, our community and even our region. We have so many local businesses. And the cool thing about that is they reinvest back into the local community,” Ali said.
Stopping by one small business often encourages customers to shop at another business on the same block or in the same area, he said. The local businesses often sell each others' goods.
'Small-businesses minded'
Back in Lackawanna County at Elements, Nicole Curtis said their coffee is roasted by Moka Origins, another small coffee and chocolate business in Honesdale.
Working with Moka has also helped keep coffee costs low. Coffee was one of the biggest imports impacted by recent tariffs.
"There's been a little bit of an increase, but it hasn't been so much that we weren't able to sell their coffee here,” Nicole Curtis said.
The Curtises have seen a shift in how people spend over the past four years they’ve been small business owners and especially since the pandemic.
“I think people are small business minded now, like people will come here instead of going to Dunkin, right? They’ll come here for a sandwich instead of going to Burger King or some fast food place, because they know it's fresh,” said Jack Curtis. “That's where the economy is. You support that small guy to make everybody else, to make the economy roll.”
