‘We have more to offer:’ Small Business Saturday puts NEPA entrepreneurs in focus

Black Friday may be the biggest shopping day for many U.S. retailers, but not for Dave and Sue Guzik.

The owners of Fly Me Home, a Pittston shop which sells handmade and upcycled home decor and jewelry, have their sights set on the following day.

“Small Business Saturday is by far our biggest day of the year,” Sue Guzik said.

The Guziks are not alone.

Small Business Saturday, which is observed each year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, is intended to support the nation’s more than 34 million independent businesses. It is co-sponsored by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and American Express, which founded the event as a marketing promotion in 2010.

Since then, Small Business Saturday has generated $201 billion in spending nationwide, including $17 billion last year, SBA and American Express say.

‘The backbone of our local economy’

Small Business Saturday also gives local chambers of commerce and community development agencies around the country an opportunity to promote neighborhood shopping districts and the small businesses that call them home.

Scranton Tomorrow leaders have organized Small Business Saturday promotions since American Express launched national movement in 2010, and will do so again this year. More than 30 downtown Scranton businesses are expected to participate.

“Our small businesses are the backbone of our local economy. When they do well, everyone in Scranton, Lackawanna County, and Northeastern Pennsylvania benefits,” said Leslie Collins, president and CEO of Scranton Tomorrow.

Organizers say the benefits impact the bottom line for businesses and the community as a whole. They cite American Express estimates that for every dollar spent at a small business an average of 68 cents stays within the local community of that business — and creates an additional 48 cents in local business activity due to local businesses and their employees patronizing other local businesses.

From Main Streets to malls

Not all small businesses operate in classic downtown storefronts, however.

Ryan Cerulli expects Small Business Saturday and the rest of the holiday season to be a busy time for his staff of seven at Sword in the Stone Games, in Wilkes-Barre Township’s Wyoming Valley Mall.

Cerulli looks forward to helping people find the right gifts for the gamers in their life.

“We can take anybody that gives us the most obscure thing of ‘they like Pokemon,’ or ‘they like board games,’ and navigate them to some entry level or intermediate stuff,” he said. “But we also do gift cards because we know better than anybody, this is the hardest thing to shop for somebody.”

Cerulli took over the store three years ago, when they were still based in downtown Wilkes-Barre. He scoffs at the idea that malls are “dying.”

“We laugh every time somebody tells us that because coming to the mall was the best decision we made, not just for the store but for the community,” he said. “We have more space. We have more to offer.”

Sword in the Stone may be a small business, but the store offering tabletop games, collectible cards and a gaming community, has spent the last year growing to fill its largest home yet.

“We ended up getting into a space that is 6,000 square feet, and now we have more table space and more gaming space,” Cerulli said. “Fifty percent of it’s for all the product to be in. The other fifty percent is for the community to come in, play games, have fun.”

The product includes collectible card games like Pokemon, Digimon and Magic the Gathering, board games, tabletop roleplaying games and supplies for painting miniatures.

Their community of “Guild Members,” and players who drop in for Magic the Gathering and other games on weekends has grown “exponentially” since moving to the mall, Cerulli said.

They use a server on Discord, a social media platform, to keep in touch. Cerulli said the server grew from about 100 people to more than 1,000 after they moved.

“Every Friday and Saturday, we’re practically booked up,” he said. “We have to set up extra folding tables and chairs for people to be able to sit down and game.”

Cerulli also has been able to incorporate a few ideas from longtime customers — like a full table of game dice for the dice goblins among them to choose from.

“Anything they suggest, I try to look at seriously, even if it is a joke,” he said. “And this was one of the best things I did because it fits about 100 pounds of dice in it.”

Isabela Weiss | WVIA News | Report for America

Punk’s comeback at Rage Parade

Capitalizing on niche interests, as Sword in the Stone does, has been a key to success for many small businesses.

For Clarissa Crist, owner of Rage Parade in Pottsville, that interest is skate gear.

Crist rarely goes by her government name professionally or personally. Most people, she says, know her as “LolliRot,” owner of the shop and founder of the Schuylkill County Scream Queens, a women’s flat track roller derby league.

The sport, which skaters have described as wrestling or ‘rugby on wheels,’ saw a revival in the early 2000s.

Crist opened Rage Parade in 2022 after watching her teammates travel to shops in Maryland or Virginia for gear.

A conversation with a local longboard skater after derby practice started it all. The man saw the group of mostly women wearing matching jackets and classic derby-esque punk attire and said they “look[ed] like a biker gang.”

Crist laughed it off.

“We got to talking,” she recalled. “… And I said, ‘Man, if I had the opportunity, I would totally open up a skate shop in downtown Pottsville.’ And he goes, ‘Well, there’s actually this contest going on right now called Launch Pottsville. You should check it out.’”

Pottsville Area Development Corporation started Launch Pottsville to teach people how to open their own businesses through classes including financial coaching, real estate assessments and market strategy.

Before Launch Pottsville, Crist said she worked as a nursing assistant and as a postal worker. She compared the program to the show “Shark Tank,” where hopeful entrepreneurs compete to get to the final round of funding. Many of the businesses in the program ended up opening up shop regardless of whether they made it through to the end of Launch Pottsville’s process, she said.

Running her own business has its highs and lows, she said. Crist and her husband George — or ‘Lolligagger,’ as she jokingly dubbed him — are Rage Parade’s sole employees.

“There’s weeks where you have a lot of customers, there’s weeks where barely anybody comes through the door … but it’s very rewarding for me. Literally, I’m crazy about roller derby … I never know who’s gonna pop in the door,” Crist said.

She’s had roller derby enthusiasts and skaters alike come travel from as far as Virginia and a customer who stopped by during his trip from Canada.

The store is jam-packed with skating equipment from knee pads and helmets to punk band t-shirts and “Derby Kiss” skating shorts. Crist’s years of experience with skate sizing gives her customers a ‘derby Cinderella’ experience to find the perfect fit.

“I’m glad that when people come in — like, I’m very proud of this — they come in and they don’t know what they need, what they want, what will work for them. And because of me doing it all, trying it all, buying it all, wasting money on it all, I can help them figure out what works for them,” Crist said.

Launch Pottsville is making a comeback under Launch Pottsville 2.0. Crist said hopeful business entrepreneurs need three things to start a business: “an idea, a dream and the willingness to see it through.”

“If anybody’s ever had a dream or a vision, this is the time to do it. You never know what’s going to happen. And this Launch Pottsville 2.0 is geared towards arts and entertainment … It’s an awesome process, and if I can do it, anybody can do it,” Crist said.

With an excited glimmer in her eye, she added: “You might see me on the judges’ panel.”

Rage Parade will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Small Business Saturday and the store is holding a 70% skate sale from Black Friday to Christmas Eve on select skates and helmets.

Lydia McFarlane

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WVIA News

‘We’ll make you feel like family’

Small Business Saturday is an annual high-water mark for Fly Me Home, but not the Guziks’ only special event.

Personal service and forging bonds with customers is important to the couple, and pets are a subject that makes for friendly conversation. The couple brings their dog to work every day and encourages customers to bring theirs to the store as well.

Every year, during the week of Thanksgiving and the week after, the Guziks host a pet food drive. Everyone who brings pet food gets their name entered for a chance to win prizes such as gift certificates and store discounts.

“We have a lot of animal lovers that are customers, so everybody really supports that,” Sue Guzik said.

The food drive donations will be given to local nonprofits, Rescue Pets Serving Vets in Benton and Rescue Warriors in Pittston.

Sue Guzik opened the shop in 2013, and Dave Guzik joined her full-time in 2018. Sue has been upcycling her whole life.

“I’ve always loved to upcycle,” she said. “I’m the youngest of four kids, so I always grew up repurposing hand me downs, and that’s why I enjoy it.”

Dave Guzik worked as a carpenter before joining the shop and brings those skills to the endeavor. He makes the store’s best selling items: repurposed silverware, crafting bookmarks, jewelry and more out of spoons.

While transitioning from careers to being small-business owners comes with a lot of work, the Guziks would not change a thing about their lives now.

“Sometimes it’s hard to create [and] just be an artist for a living, because you have to constantly do it,” Sue Guzik said. “But our customers are awesome. We love our customers.”

Becoming a part of both Northeast Pennsylvania’s community of artists and of small business owners has enhanced their lives.

“I have met some of my best friends through just our customers at the shop, and they are definitely like family to us,” Sue Guzik said. “We have met the best people through the whole journey.”

The Guziks encourage people to shop local not only during the holidays, but year round.

“When you buy from a small business, we do a happy little dance,” Dave Guzik said. “Walmart doesn’t care.”

They are always excited to meet new customers and invite new people into the shop.

“We’re a family-friendly, pet-friendly business,” Sue Guzik said. “Just come visit us. We’ll make you feel like family.”

SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY EVENTS

In addition to independent businesses offering special sales, organizations around the region will host community events to promote small businesses in their localities, including food, entertainment, vendors, and more.

This selection is by no means a definitive list, and you can find small businesses in your area using this search page.

Bradford County
Events listing here

Carbon County
Lehighton

Columbia/Montour area
Events listing here

Luzerne County

Lackawanna County
Scranton

Monroe County
Stroudsburg

Pike County
Milford

Schuylkill County

Susquehanna County
Events listing here

Wayne County
Honesdale