The most wonderful time of the year is a struggle for many business owners as they adapt to the holiday shopping season during the pandemic. Many are hoping online sales will carry them through this month.
Vicki McCullough owns Peddles in Casselberry. Peddles normally specializes in events like weddings. McCullough says during the pandemic she had to make major adjustments for her store.
“I’ve had to make a shift toward more retail. I’ve joined e-commerce. I have Peddles.com a website where people can order straight online" McCullough said.
However December has been a bright spot, Peddles is getting more orders from people who want to send their loved ones flowers for the holidays.
Novita Luciana, one of the owners of Rumaku Sushi, said the pandemic has not changed her business significantly. Before the pandemic most of the restaurants orders were to-go despite having dine-in option.
"We have a lot of to-go especially since we are close to UCF so a lot of to-go is coming from Uber," she said. "They don't want to go out so they order more to-go than dining in, which is good for us."
AJ's Press "Tasty Eats" is a family owned restaurant that's been around the Longwood area for almost 4 years. Two of the owners Andy Hesman and his daughter Sydney Hesman said they took a huge hit during the pandemic, losing dining guests and shifting mostly to take out. It's not giving them the sales they once had, but they remain optimistic.
"The biggest thing, I think hopefully this year maybe some gift card sales that will help boost our sales and bring people back in." Sydney Hesman said.
Usually in December the restaurant gets a lot of catering orders but with COVID-19 those orders dried up.
Andy Hesman offers this advice for small business who are still struggling: the community is your friend.
"You know, really that's what's going to drive us through and carry us through until this crisis is over," he said. "That community awareness and the people in the community that want us to be successful they help us along the road."
The pandemic has been unpredictable for business owners and with the new year almost here they are hoping 2021 will bring better things.