Shop Small Businesses
I love shopping, especially, and particularly, online shopping. Loving online shopping is a blessing and a curse right now. The current Covid-19 social distancing and business closure restrictions are affecting everyone differently. Yes, it has impacted the lives of EVERYONE, but not necessarily in the same way. But in reality, everyone is experiencing some level of financial change. I know small businesses and local businesses are especially facing a lot of uncertainty right now. I have tried to be extra mindful recently to use my powers of online shopping to shop small businesses whenever I can.
The Internet has really allowed small businesses to flourish and there are so many good ones out there! Even before Covid-19 I loved to shop small businesses. In an attempt to help raise awareness and spread the love, I thought I would put together a list of some of the small businesses I shop (some frequently) and love.
Home
I am an avid coffee drinker. Coffee is just a little piece of happiness in a cup for me. With my love for coffee, I also have a deep love for coffee mugs and any type of coffee receptacle and of course Starbucks. So any time those loves intersect, well, I’m in heaven! I discovered Lauren Mackenzie Decals on Instagram and have accumulated quite the collection of cold and hot cups. She makes the best, cutest, most awesome personalized Starbucks hot and cold reusable coffee cups. Not only can you use them at home, if you take your reusable cup to Starbucks, you get 10 cents off your order! You can order your own personalized hot and cold cups from Lauren at her Etsy shop. These cups would make GREAT gifts, but just make sure you order ahead of time.
I found Evelyn Henson and her art years ago. She is an amazingly talented artist who creates fun, colorful designs. I tend more towards neutrals in my decorating but I love having her prints to add pops of color. Over the years she has expanded her business from just prints to other home items such as stationary, mugs, throw pillows and blankets, towels, and more. One of her art collections is a map print series. She has the cutest prints for lots of major cities around the world with their famous landmarks. With those she also does personalized travel prints. A few years ago we gave a custom travel print to my parents for Christmas with all the places we had lived. You can find all of her art and home items at her self-titled website, www.evelynhenson.com.
Fashion
Amelia Styles is a boutique that offers online shopping as well as having a storefront in Nashville, TN. The boutique was actually opened by, and is owned and operated by one of my sorority sisters! She was in my pledge class and was our president our senior year at the University of Tennessee. She has such a beautiful, classic, feminine style, which is reflected in everything in her shop. After the birth of her daughter, she expanded her business to now include a baby line. Amelia Styles has great jewelry, women’s clothing, and baby items. I’m currently, not so patiently, awaiting the arrival of some earrings I just ordered!! Check everything out at shopameliastyles.com.
Pink Lily is a female owned online woman’s clothing, shoes, and accessory boutique. They have some of the CUTEST shirts and dresses available on the Internet. My favorite pieces from Pink Lilly though are their graphic tees and sweatshirts. They really “up” my comfy clothes wardrobe. I also have a pair of slide sandals from Pink Lily that have become my absolute favorite shoes this spring. The website also offers fairly frequent sales or deals on certain items, and I’m unfortunately a sucker for a good deal. Check out pinklily.com right now for all your spring and summer wardrobe needs!
The Sis Kiss is a sister owned, online jewelry business. And I sure do love anything that involves sisters working and thriving together! Their shop is FULL of beautiful earrings, necklaces, rings, bracelets and more. They also offer a very popular customized jewelry line. They will frequently set up periods where a potion of their sales proceeds will go to a charity or specific special cause (during one of those I ordered a customized necklace with my future new last name for after I get married J). Check out all their beautiful, dainty jewelry at thesiskiss.com.
Victoria Emerson is another online jewelry shop that I love! Their most popular pieces are the wrap bracelets, which are gorgeous. I have three. They also have some beautiful necklaces and watches, include apple watch bands, which I just discovered as I was writing this post. Check out the wrap bracelets that I love at www.victoriaemerson.com.
Bailee was a high school classmate of my sisters’ who now has a small sewing business. If you are needing a cloth mask for yourself or family member to wear when grocery shopping or when out in public right now, check out her Facebook page, That’s Sew Bailee. My family got their cloth facemasks from her!
Essential Oil Resources
Whimsy and Wellness is a small online business that offers super cute essential oil accessories. I love a good essential oil DIY but sometimes the plain amber glass roller bottles are just too boring. Then I found this little business and got soooo excited. They have the cutest roller bottles that are still dark/opaque to keep out the sunlight. They just had their spring/summer 2020 collection launch a few days ago and everything sold out super quick and I wasn’t able to get my hands on the roller bottles I wanted. So I’m keeping a close eye out for the restock! You can find their cute roller bottles and other merchandise at whimsy-and-wellness.myshopify.com.
Growing Healthy Homes has become one of my top go-to sites for essential oil information references. I have gotten several great reference books as well as informational flyers to share with friends from this online shop. They also offer Young Living business tools, and apparel and accessories.
This is obviously a pretty small list of small businesses, but it is just a few that I genuinely love and shop. What are your favorite small businesses to shop? I’d love some new ones to add to my list! Lets all try to support our communities and our economy in general and shop small businesses whenever we can!
XOXO Jaye