I love the weekend! Who doesn’t?
One of the reasons why I love weekends is because I am able to spend more time in my community and look for places that I have not been to. Like today. I was in Aldershot on this Saturday morning and stopped into “Nancy’s Flavours” http://www.nancysflavours.com . I had a 2pm appointment and wanted to find something quick and healthy for lunch and noticed that they serve lunch.
Once in the store, I was greeted by Jackie whose daughter, Nancy, owns the store. Although my family isn’t Greek, I felt immediately at home. Jackie was so welcoming and kind, I was sampling their soup-of-the-day before I knew it! My lunch was wonderful Greek salad and chickpea soup – so delicious!
I could go on-and-on about the baklava and cookies that were on display, calling out my name (oh, Jackie also gave me a cookie to try) but, my point of this post is to bring attention to our local businesses in Burlington.
When you visit a local business that was build on love, sweat and tears, you get a different feeling when you walk in in the door. You can count on a warm hello with a genuine smile. When you open the door, you are walking into a business where the owner has put in countless hours to build it, bring it to market, has sacrificed family time and Sunday picnics, this is their business and YOU mean the world to them. You are not going to hear about them as often or see them on your TV because they are not going to have the million dollar advertising budgets like Tim Horton’s or Best Buy. But they are here, around our city and they are ready to offer you quality care, service and appreciation. I have found, they will go above and beyond to make you happy.
I’ve always been passionate about small businesses and entrepreneurs. I come from a family of business owners, my father, although he worked full time started a part time business designing and custom building beautiful oak kitchen cabinets. He didn’t spend a nickle on advertising and went exclusively by word-of-mouth and had to turn away business. My mother, after working for a company for most of her career, followed her dream and opened a clothing store which she owned for over 15 years and recently sold it. I could tell you about the businesses my grandparents had, but you get the point!
My ask is that we make a decision to visit our local businesses and give them business, show them we care! This is what builds a community. Don’t get me wrong, I shop everywhere and have a slight addiction to Starbucks ( although I really wish there were more independent coffee shops in Burlington!) I also have a soft spot for all entrepreneurs including franchisee’s and know many of them, they too put in countless hours and passion into their business. However, I can’t imagine anyone would disagree that we should cherish our local businesses who literally hung up their sign on their shop and opened the doors! Let’s make an effort to visit them more often, I know I will.
lisa
It’s small business like this that we want to support – so if your car/truck or SUV needs a little TLC – visit MAPLE VIEW CAR WASH right across from Mapleview Mall. They do the inside and outside 
