Crowds pack into Capitola Village for Small Business Saturday

A successful Small Business Saturday in Capitola. The weather and crowds made for packed streets.

Something business owners were excited about. Rodney Flores, helps run Capitola Candy Company. His family took over ownership just three month ago, he says they have put everything into this store. “Its family owned, family operated. It’s basically two of us operating, my partner Daniel and I. And it’s everything to us, it really is, I mean we’ve put everything into it,” Flores says.

Some shoppers, like Craig Nunes, say they come to support their neighbors and community. “This is sort of our revolt against Black Friday and cyber Monday. Like let’s just kind of get back to our roots and support all the merchants out here, who are here 365 days a year,” Nunes says.

Others also came to find items they says they can’t find in the big name stores. “This is one off, it’s one of a kind, very unique gifts that you can tell are hand crafted and cared about,” says shopper Kristiane Thompson.

Capitola Beach Co. store manager, Ceirra Bellisomi, says their store has been there since 2005. While she understands how convenient it can be to shop online, she is thankful for all of the support from locals and tourists. “It’s easy to shop online right? But it really supports the community and we like to support each other down here all of us small businesses, it’s really important,” says Bellisomi.

Locally owned shops are said to bring in up to 3 times more revenue for the local economy. Small business Saturday started seven years ago in a push to get more people to help the communities they live in.