The projected total sales, which exclude automobile dealers, gasoline stations and restaurants to focus on core retail, would top the record of $929.5 billion set last year.

Despite the positive outlook, many small businesses across Michigan are struggling to maintain sales.

One of those small business owners, Billy Abbott of Jack & The Bear, at 525 South 3rd St., Suite A in Big Rapids, said this year his sales have faced challenges.

“It’s been a rough year,” Abbott said. “There’s a recession right now, I think that everybody can see it. Even though it seems like a lot of the national media isn’t really covering things like they used to. I know of a lot of layoffs that have happened, and we’ve had a lot of regulars who even came in and said they got laid off from their job. Seems like more toward the end of summer is when it started, so it’s been real rough on us, Jack & The Bear is definitely struggling.

“We’ve tried to become a dinner place over there on the east side, but it just it’s never happened for us since the start, so we’re leaning toward more of a lunch place for now,” Abbott said. “We’re just hoping to be busy for the holidays.”

The lower numbers of in-person shoppers and customers is partially to blame for the challenges, according to Abbott.

Supply chain issues haven’t impacted Abbott’s restaurant as much, but rather a down-trickle of customers.

“We have our new menu and we put a lot of our specials that everybody loves coming in on those days for other menus so they can come get them anytime,” Abbott said. “We’re just trying to find out who we are and trying to find out where efforts are making us money.”

He said it takes a lot of work to constantly be coming up with new features and daily specials, and especially when those they don’t sell.

“Trying to take those high prices and offer some kind of value to your customers is about impossible right now, especially the way Jack & The Bear does things,” Abbott said. “We tell you how much you’re getting. A lot of places don’t do that. We spell it all out for you, most places don’t. It’s hard to offer value when you also want to be honest with your customers, if you don’t want to pull any fastball and tell them what they’re getting.”

One aspect of business that has added cost for Jack & The Bear is packaging and providing containers for customers with resource pricing for packaging rising overall due to inflation, according to Abbott.

Abbott said he is still committed to providing quality menu item production at fair prices and supporting fellow small business owners amid the challenges.

“The price on everything is outrageous, and a lot of the things that weren’t an issue before are now, so it’s really hard to turn that all into some kind of a value for the customer,” Abbott said. “I wouldn’t ask anybody to do anything that I wouldn’t do myself.

“Keep it to $5 to $10 that you spend locally, keeping it in somebody’s pocket that was down the street from you. That’s very important right now. We have to think more like that as a group, not as a small group or just business owners preaching it, as Americans to keep our country going.”

Jack & The Bear will continue its Thanksgiving meal specials for customers who want to save themselves some cooking time and spend locally, as well as continue creating unique menu items and specials on a weekly basis.

MORE THAN A STORE

One Osceola County business owner who is keeping his optimism up for the holiday season is Thaddeus Gommesen, owner of Toy Town, at 102 West Upton Ave. in Reed City.

Gommesen said providing community activities and maintaining connections with local families has been key to his business’s success.

“I’m very excited to, of course, just to be there, just to enjoy the community and to be there for the community,” Gommesen said. “I love being able to bring in items, especially (for) people who request stuff.

“We are so excited to once again have a Christmas season where we can have events with Santa Claus. For me, it’s more about the community and events for the community than it is about the products themselves, and having a place for people to come in and enjoy the store. Hopefully, we can find products that people want to buy. To me, it’s so much more than that.”

Gommesen said for Small Business Saturday, following Thanksgiving, the store will be hosting storewide sales for families looking to get ahead on holiday shopping.

Toy Town also offers free gift wrapping for customers year-round and will have holiday-themed wrapping for Christmas time.

“We have spent about $2,000 or $3,000 on gift wrapping so far this year, and we’re going to make sure we have whatever we can available for the community to be able to take advantage of that,” Gommesen said.

“We emphasize the screen-free classic games and toys. A lot of stuff we sell is stuff that people grew up with. Different generations come in, and they see stuff that they haven’t seen in years, and we’re going to continue to do that as well. I just got some more classic games restocked, and we just really enjoy that family time.”

Toy Town recently got in some new RC racing-style toys that have been popular, as well as some new tabletop games at both the Reed City and Cadillac locations.

The store will also match any online or big box store item prices in addition to offering some lower prices on toys and games.

Gommesen said he is most thankful for the community support the store has received since opening in Reed City.

“I want to emphasize that I’m so grateful for what we get to do,” Gommesen said. “I’m humbled by the support we’ve gotten in Reed City. It’s amazing how many people enjoy the store and hopefully, we can continue to do that.”

More articles by Olivia Fellows