Small Business Saturday set for tomorrow

By LYNETTE SOWELL
Cove Leader-Press 

Tomorrow throughout Copperas Cove, small businesses will be celebrated as the Copperas Cove Chamber of Commerce and more than 45 local businesses take part in Small Business Saturday, held annually the Saturday after Thanksgiving. 
The day kicks off at 9 a.m. at this year’s event “command center,” Candy Outfitters, located at the Frontier Hills Shopping Center, 185 W. Business 190, Suite 1.
Various businesses will have special sales all day long. With the use of a free passport available at Candy Outfitters, shoppers can use in their passport as they head from business to business on Saturday, taking advantage of deals galore. 
This is Candy Outfitters’ third year participating in the event, with it being their second year serving as the headquarters for Small Business Saturday, said Jennifer White, who along with husband, Michael, owns the candy store. 
White said there are more than 45 businesses participating, but all didn’t make the date cutoff to be listed on the event’s passport available tomorrow morning for shoppers to use as they go out to shop. 
“It will be given out at the command center. We have everyone from Cove Fitness on the west side to Jersey Mike’s to the east along the Business 190 corridor,” White said. Some home-based businesses without a storefront will be hosted at locations like Candy Outfitters, Pacific Tanning, Bits ‘N Bites Cake Shop and DTW Printing. 
White said she was glad they were able to serve as the command center for Small Business Saturday last year, and had volunteered to be on the steering committee for the Chamber of Commerce, because she likes to do a lot of events throughout the year. 
“They said, ‘This year, it’s all yours,’” White said. White, who started her business online and based out of her home, opened the storefront in 2015 just prior to her husband’s retirement from the military. 
The past several years have been a learning curve, she added. 
“It’s been crazy, but it’s also amazing with our community. We’re a small-big town here, and it’s nice to be able to see people making traditions to come by with their kids,” White said. 
White said she has encouraged fellow small business owners to have an incentive for shoppers to stop by, adding that the passport is also a key tool for shoppers to use to submit for the grand prize drawing. 
“They get to keep their passport and all the incentives will be on the map,” White said. “For example, Amy’s Attic has a gift wrap center, so you can buy your gifts and get them wrapped there. She also has a kids’ corner, for writing letters to Santa. We encouraged everyone to do an incentive and donate a gift for the grand prize drawing. I told them to do something that brings people back.” 
As for White, she plans to keep busy at the command center, with Mr. Jelly Belly himself on site throughout the day.