Omaha small businesses say weather, inflation has made for slow holiday season

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – At West Omaha’s Square Donut, you’ll find donuts with a spin.

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“We’ve taken the standard donut and for a lack of a better term ‘guccied ’ it up,” Elizabeth Pooley, owner of Square Donut, said.

Elizabeth Pooley and her son Jack have run their shop for five years. In that time, they say they’ve faced their share of challenges.

“We have absolutely gotten nailed to the wall with the pandemic, the price increases of products, the minimum wages going up,” Elizabeth Pooley said.

“We had to raise our prices across the board roughly from 75 cents to a dollar just because by the end of 2022, that was a really rough year for us,” Jack Pooley said.

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This time of year, the Pooleys try to attract new customers by prepping orders ahead of the holidays.

Then, came last week’s ice storm. They expected Saturday Dec. 14th to be one of her busiest days of the year, leading up to Christmas.

However, the ice forced them to close up shop because workers couldn’t make it in the night before.

“Our bakers come in at 8 o’clock at night,” Pooley said. “It’s not a lunch spot that opens at 11 o’clock in the morning or closes at 10 at night; All that business helps support the culture so I get scared as the owner.”

Apart from the weather, the marketing company Constant Contact said 89 percent of small businesses like Pooley’s are still feeling the pressure of inflation.

Part of the issue, more consumers are planning to lower their spending at small businesses.

“Inflation when we think about it’s something that’s impacted a small business in a few different ways,” said David Charest with Constant Contract. “It’s made them really look at the things they’re doing and areas they need to be efficient.”

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Charest said one of those ways is for small businesses to look at what consumers want.

“Inflation when we think about it’s something that’s impacted a small business in a few different ways. It’s made them really look at the things they’re doing and areas they need to be efficient.”

“Business owners can take a step back and simplify what they’re doing,” Charest said.

It isn’t all bad though, he also said consumers will still want to shop at small businesses because they find things they can’t find at big stores.

That’s an inspiration for the Pooleys.

“I have so many visions and so many ideas for donuts and what this shop can do,” Pooley said.

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