Celebrating Small Business Saturday in Downtown Royal Oak

ROYAL OAK, Mich. - People gathered to shop and eat during this year’s Small Business Saturday in Downtown Royal Oak. Some finding their way to Le Crepe on Washington and Fourth. 

“We take everything from salmon, chicken, steak, ham, turkey, and we blow your mind with it,” said Dennis Williams with Le Crepe. “We have traditional Nutella, bananas, strawberries.”

Like many independent owned restaurants, Le Crepe is doing its best to stay afloat during the pandemic and the latest shutdown that banned indoor dining.

“We encourage people to come in and do take out over the phone,” Williams said. “The products are still fresh, no heat lamps and we are grateful with all the business we got.”

Less than a block down the street, people are sitting at Lilly’s seafood and picking up carry out. 

“It’s a fun place,” said customer Ken Sauter. “They have great beer and excellent food.”

And while business has been pretty steady on this small business Saturday…

“We’re really worried about our employees, because obviously we don’t have a lot of work for them right now, so the more customers we have, the more people we can employ, so they can have a living,” said Liz Morton with Lilly’s Seafood. 

“We all realize what a difficult time it is for small businesses right now,” Sauter said. 

And that’s all the more reason to support small businesses, not just today, but every day, especially during the pandemic.