MARYVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — It’s Small Business Saturday, and since 2015 Downtown Maryville has celebrated by hosting a marketplace filled with local businesses on Broadway Avenue.
The Holiday Craft Market and More was from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday and featured local artists and shops.
This past year has been hard for many small businesses due to the pandemic which is why local store owners in Downtown Maryville made sure to participate in Small Business Saturday.
This time of year, many people are shopping for holiday gifts, and those out in Maryville on Saturday are making sure those gifts are sourced locally.
Jason Householder from Maryville said he was glad to see so many people at The Holiday Craft Market and More.
“Come down to see if we could find some Christmas presents for the family and support our local businesses at the same time.”
Downtown Maryville was full of people making sure to show love to their neighborhood stores.
From the outdoor market to inside stores like The Boutique on Broadway, store owners and managers are just glad to see people out and about shopping.
“It’s a great day for us,” said The Boutique on Broadway store manager, Grace Galyon. “We really love small business Saturday because for one we don’t get to work together all the time and so we get to all come in together and work and see all of our customers which is wonderful. We usually have a great support system.”
Galyon adds, “it supports our economy, local families with businesses. It’s great for everyone. Plus you get to see a lot of unique things that other big box stores don’t necessarily have.”
This time last year many businesses were just trying to stay afloat.
“It’s been rough,” said the owner of ABC Monograms, Kelley Sloan. “We were fortunate to receive some grants from the state and actually we used that to buy this house where we moved our business to.”
She added, “but it’s been hard. It’s gotten better but it’s still not to where it was before.”
They’ve been in Downtown Maryville since 2006. Sloan said what they love most about downtown is the community that continues to support them throughout the years.
The Hatmaker family spent their Saturday morning Christmas Caroling but their afternoon at the Holiday Craft Market. This year they’re really trying to prioritize shopping local for all their holiday needs.
“We’ve really tried this year to support local communities like Hyde Farms,” said Chalyn Hatmaker from Maryville. “We started buying our beef through them. We got our ham locally too this year.”
It’s this type of community support that keeps both businesses and shoppers in Downtown Maryville.
Jason Householder said, “just to help out the local businesses, you know, they’ve been struggling sometimes and anything you can do the help them out keep them around. Small businesses make the small towns.”
A lot of local stores that participated in small business Saturday said they will have holiday sales all season long. Many hope people will take the opportunity to purchase gifts for the holidays as well as support the local community.
