TULSA, Okla. — After a challenging 2020, local businesses are looking forward to 2021.
“It has really been a tough and stressful year," said William Franklin, owner of Decopolis.
Small businesses are some of those most affected by the pandemic. Including stores like Made in downtown Tulsa.
“The whole being closed for three months and not knowing when we were going to be open," said Emily Forrest, manager at Made.
Franklin said Decopolis lost about 60 percent to 80 percent of its sales and recently closed its downtown Tulsa location.
“Everybody started working from home," Franklin said. "And that was a huge part of our sales, you know, the office workers down there during the day. And then also the tourism stopped.”
There was a bright spot in 2020 for Decopolis. It opened a new store on 11th St. in August.
“It’s been doing about double the sales our downtown store," Franklin said. "And it’s, of course, a lot less expensive, too. So the numbers are really good for this one.”
For Made, like many stores, temporarily closing its doors forced it to improve other ways of doing business.
“We were able to build up our online website and do a lot of online orders through that," Forrest said. “It was kind of slow getting back up from the whole lock down thing, but it’s been great this month with the holidays.”
As 2021 begins, both stores are looking to the new year with hope. They encourage everyone to shop local to support their businesses along with their vendors and other stores.
“It’s important because you’re supporting all the people in your community and not like, you know, somebody far off," Forrest said.
“There’s a dozen other local vendors," Franklin said. "People who make our t-shirts and the mugs and all the other, a lot of the other local stuff. So, you’re supporting a lot of local people that are in your neighborhood.”
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