With occupancy limits at 30% capacity for retail stores, Michigan businesses were looking for ways to keep customers walking through their doors. In Oxford, Caveman & Pip treated their overflow customers with hot cocoa while they waited to enter the home décor shop on Small Business Saturday.
Supporting local business is now more important than ever.
Locally, M-24 road construction and coronavirus has made life tough this year for the hometown businesses. Caveman & Pip, 28 S. Washington St., is “getting by” thanks to a loyal customer base.
“If we didn’t have the customer basis, we wouldn’t be doing very well,” said owner Craig Shagena. “It could be worse, it could be a lot worse.”
Shagena does all the custom furniture woodworking for the shop, which is always busy. He said he was backed up before COVID-19. When the virus hit, it gave him a chance to get caught up; now he’s backed up again. That’s partly because of material delays from suppliers. The price of lumber has also doubled.
“You just work with it, you know. You got to be flexible. Do what you got to do to make it work, and that’s what we do.”