Saturday is Small Business Saturday and today, Nov. 23, SBA’s Dallas/Fort Worth District Director Herbert Austin and SBA’s Public Information Officer Ahmad Goree will visit two North Texas small businesses to promote the national celebration where SBA and the White House in partnership with American Express encourages consumers to shop with small businesses.
This year Austin and Goree will visit Xenia Roastery LLC in Fort Worth and Pinspiration Arts and Crafts Studio in Southlake. Xenia Roastery is a coffee roasting business started by owner Justin McLaughlin. Joining the two SBA officials will be Fort Worth City Councilmember Dr. Jared Williams and Sultan H. Cole, Sr. Interim President, Fort Worth Black Chamber of Commerce. Pinspiration Arts and Crafts Studio is owned by Shairoz Hooda and Shanila Noorani. The SBA team will likely be joined by Southlake Mayor John Huffman and City Councilmembers.
At a time when businesses are trying to recover from the pandemic there were many small businesses looking to start and grow. For Fiscal Year 2021, the SBA Dallas/Fort Worth District office had a record year of lending with providing nearly $1.8 billion in loans to more than 1,800 small businesses and creating or retaining 22,391 jobs. In Tarrant County, 399 loans worth more than $381 million were approved and creating and retaining more than 5,200 jobs. Xenia Roastery, LLC and Pinspiration Arts and Crafts Studio are two of those businesses that received loans in FY21.
Small Business Saturday 2021 will be held on November 27th, marking the 12th annual Small Business Saturday. Small Business Saturday was created to help independent businesses capture a larger piece of the critical holiday season consumer spending, while also helping address small business owners’ most pressing need: getting more customers through their doors. Last year, shoppers came together in full-force to support their local communities, and Small Business Saturday hit a record high with an estimated $19.8 billion in reported spending.