PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WMBB) — On Saturday businesses gathered along the streets of St. Andrews for “Small Business Saturday”, an annual event nationally to encourage customers to shop locally.
“We always say you vote for the community you want with your dollars so this day shows the citizens of Bay County really want small Mom and Pop shops,” Brad Stephens, the owner of Sunjammers said.
But this year, the owners decided to do something different. On Saturday, kids interested in owning their own business one day brought their own tables and set up shop.
“I’m just out here to sell and to have fun and just kind of be happy and make others happy,” Sara Lyons, a young entrepreneur, selling bracelets said.
Ten children set up their own shops or played music along the street.
“We want to train the next generation of small business owners and get everybody used to them. And get them used to pitching and selling,” Heather Parker, the Creative Director of Floriopolis said. “And kind of help them be as successful as they can so we’ll stick with this year after year of us supporting the next generation of small business owners.”
By promoting youngsters interested in business, current shop owners hope to continue prosperity throughout St. Andrews.
“They’re literally the next generation of entrepreneurs so if we want to have healthy communities and healthy towns that support all the non-profits, we need that next generation of entrepreneurs to come up,” Stephens said. “Anybody can go get a job at a corporate job but really having small business owners, is the heart of the community.”
