KYW Newsradio's Community Comeback series checks in on Philadelphia neighborhoods and livelihoods to find out how small businesses made it through the pandemic and how they are surviving, and even thriving, today.
SOUTH PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — "It was really scary."
Most small business owners in Philadelphia and beyond likely uttered that phrase at least once over the last 16-plus months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Especially if they didn't initially have an online presence, like Elissa Kara of arts and crafts store Nice Things Handmade at 1731 East Passyunk Ave.
"To think that we were about to close our doors and know that I don’t have a website," she said of her conundrum when the pandemic rose in March 2020.
While Kara didn't have a website, she did have social media, which allowed her to connect to a customer base she has cultivated for 11 years. This led to her first mid-pandemic digital pivot.
"The first thing I did was a card writing service," she said.
"I posted all of our cards on Instagram and I offered for people to buy cards, and I would fill them out and mail them out to their loved ones. I thought that was a good place to start."
With her social media presence, Kara was able to keep her name and products visible to her customers and fans.
"Trying to do my best to make things move and get to people and make sure gifts were given," she said.
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It helped her survive not only three-plus months of closed doors, but a period of boarded-up doors, as well.
"We were boarded up due to the unrest, which was heartbreaking in itself amongst other things," Kara explained.
"Just being a small business, and having built and put everything of yourself into something, it’s your baby, and you need to protect it. So I felt that boarding up was the best thing I could do to put myself at ease, just in case things moved throughout the city in a different pace, or the direction of the unrest changed. I knew that I was doing my best to protect my child and all of these artists."
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After doors re-opened, Kara saw a new side to the loyalty of the customers who held on and sustained her through the pandemic, and it let her know how much she and her business mean to them.
"It’s really touching when people say things like 'You are the first place I’ve been to since I’ve gotten out ... [or] since I decided to go in to stores again.'
It’s really touching to know that they came here to relax or just to walk around and look at things, and get that little space to refresh from this really awful situation.”
Many small businesses are now pivoting with Wednesday's city-wide mandate for masking indoors for businesses which don't require COVID-19 vaccinations for entry. But for Kara, it's just a continuation of what she's already done.
“We have continued to wear masks inside at the shop the entire time. The shop is so small it was important to me that people felt safe," said Kara.
"We have customers of all ages which includes children. Keeping the mask rule keeps staff and customers safe which is a priority,”
“For the first time in a hundred years, we kept our front door shut."
When the pandemic struck, the generations of customers who love Cappuccio's Meats, at 1019 South 9th St., had to say goodbye to the drop-bys and walk-ins.
Domenick Crimi, the general manager of Cappuccio's, said the doors of the butcher shop closed for the mandatory shutdown.
Instead, they took their century old business to the internet, where it boomed.
“I had people at midnight, 1 a.m., 2 a.m., 3 a.m., ordering more than I thought they could use in a week. It was amazing,” he said.
But as the pandemic continued, supply chain issues caught up with him.
“In the beginning of the pandemic, supplies were fine," he said.
"As we started getting into springtime a little bit later than spring, supplies start tightening up, drying up, and the prices start jumping through the roof.”
He said online activity has "slowed to a trickle" as of late. But Crimi's loyal customer base has finally returned in person.
“It’s exciting to see the people come back. Our numbers are up. Of course the prices are up," he said.
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However, Wednesday's city-wide business mask mandate is leading Crimi to make changes.
"I think we are going back to the future,” he said.
"We are going back to three customers in the store, with one companion with each customer, a total of six people in the store. You have to be masked up. The line will wait outside again, six feet apart. I think that will be good for everybody, and that will keep everybody healthy, hopefully,”
The Italian Market Festival, rescheduled for September, will have to be put off too.
“It’s very disappointing," Crimi said, "because we were all getting ramped up. We haven’t had a festival for two years in a row."
Still, the demand is so high now that he's struggling to get help servicing their fans' needs.
"It’s tough to get employees. I’m always looking. I just hired a new counter person the other day,” Crimi said. He is also looking for a butcher’s apprentice.
“But hiring people is tough. I’ve had numerous people apply for jobs, you set up an appointment and they don’t show up,” he said.
Staffing is a very different problem than not being able to even open your doors, the kind of problem Crimi wishes he could have had when they had to go all-internet at the start of the pandemic.
Mary Harvey of Urban Princess, at 620 South 4th Street, never thought she'd have to host a TV-like show with a beverage in order to keep her boutique alive.
"It's hilarious. It's like QVC with wine," she said.
But when many small business owners were forced to close their storefronts during the pandemic, she got very creative.
Harvey took to Facebook and live-streamed items for sale. The plan worked, and her revenues started coming in again.
“Our bottom line will be up for 2021," Harvey shared.
But it doesn't necessarily mean her customers' lives have returned to normal.
“Just because you were allowed to be open that didn’t mean it was business as usual. People were scared to leave their houses. People didn’t want to be in a small space. People were afraid to try things on,” she explained.
She also has had her own emotional mountain to climb in bringing her business back to profitability.
“It takes a toll on your brain, on your body. On your emotions," said Harvey.
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"You were on a hamster wheel just running. And thinking, 'I’ll just keep running,' and everybody goes until it gets back to normal. And the whole time I’m thinking, 'When are we going backwards?' We are never going back to normal, but we are going to go somewhere and I am running as hard and as fast as I can to make that place that we are going, a good place,” Harvey said.
She was moved with emotion, thankful for finding a way to keep her dream alive, and grateful for the customers who pivoted with her through experiencing her product through a screen, and now in-person again.
"Because it was crazy, and because everybody went through something different, but the biggest thing for me is, I was afraid I was going to lose my business," Harvey admitted.
"What I found was this whole group of people who helped each other.”