Doylestown Virtual Small Business Event Is Saturday

DOYLESTOWN, PA — A group of local businesses, struggling amid the coronavirus crisis, have come together to plan a “Virtual” Small Business Saturday on April 25. More than 20 shops, boutiques, and stores will participate, according to organizers. A full list of participating stores is available on the Discover Doylestown website.

The businesses will be offering an array of initiatives through the virtual shopping day, including online sales, safe distance curbside pickups, gift cards, or other options.

"Small businesses nationwide are rapidly approaching a point of no return," organizers said in an event announcement sent to Patch. "While Pennsylvania Legislators are discussing what partially reopening businesses could look like with social distancing in place, the reality is that with each passing day small businesses are having to make the hard decision to never open their doors again because of the economic fallout."

The local virtual Small Business Saturday was an idea created by Derrick Morgan, co-owner of one of The Monkey’s Uncle boutique in Doylestown.

“While some businesses are still operating at a substantially reduced capacity, our hope is to generate enough support for these shops that they can have confidence they’ll be able to survive the duration of stay at home orders,” Morgan said. “Our favorite businesses need support now more than ever, and I just hope that by creating this awareness it will spark enough love from the locals that we avoid seeing any more businesses close permanently.”

The Economic Policy Institute has predicted that the disease outbreak could potentially eliminate three million jobs from the U.S. economy before the summer. Since March 15, when a series of closures began ramping up to prevent the spread of the virus, nearly 1.4 million Pennsylvania residents have filed unemployment claims, data shows.

Additionally, a recent Goldman Sachs survey of 1,500 plus small business owners found that more than 50 percent of them said they didn’t think they could continue operating their businesses for more than three months amid the current conditions caused by the coronavirus outbreak.

Small Business Saturday is typically held on the Saturday after Thanksgiving every year. Since then it has grown to a nationally recognized day to support the small businesses that makeup our communities.

"The businesses in Doylestown are hoping that by creating their own Virtual Small Business Saturday in April will allow them to still be open when the calendar reaches November," event organizers said.

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