LAGRANGE, Ky. — Andrea Essenpreis has a passion for baking.
“I always loved to bake even as a child, and when my first son was born in 2004, I started baking from home just as a hobby and a passion,” Essenpreis said.
That hobby soon turned into a career when she opened Q&A Sweet Treats in 2011. To ring in Small Business Saturday this year, the baker and her shop celebrated 10 years in business on Nov. 27, 2021.
What You Need To Know
- This year's Small Business Saturday also represented one decade in business for a local bakery
- Q&A Sweet Treats is a bakery in La Grange, Kentucky
- Small Business Saturday reaches record high with 19.8 billion dollars in 2020
- Online shopping at small businesses on the day increased to 56%
According to the 2020 Small Business Saturday Consumer Insights Survey, shoppers spent nearly $19.8 billion on Small Business Saturday, up from $19.6 billion in 2019.
Essenpreis has seen the results personally, especially during the pandemic.
“We just put online what we had everyday and people would call and we would run it out to them curbside. We had the little mobile credit card reader and we were so busy, we could barely keep up with it. It was a staff of three,” Essenpreis said.
But success came with some struggles, as Essenpreis has faced some of life’s toughest battles along the way.
“I went through a divorce in 2016, and the day before we went to mediation in March 2017, I got diagnosed with breast cancer so that was kind of a one, two punch," she said.
Small Business Saturday means more than just shopping locally. Essenpreis said it inspires and cultivates a sense of community.
“When you're a small business owner as well as a single parent, that was kind of a challenge or daunting to even think about but really [the community] made it possible so I'm so proud to be able to give back,” Essenpreis said.
Online shopping at small businesses on Small Business Saturday day increased to 56% in 2020, up from 43% in 2019.