For 2 Philadelphia Entrepreneurs, Small Business Saturday Offers Perfect Timing For Grand Openings In Pandemic
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- If ever there was a time to shop local and support small businesses, it's now during this pandemic. On this Small Business Saturday, local entrepreneurs are putting a lot of love into their work while customers are giving the love right back.
On Small Business Saturday, The Chandlery's grand opening on South Street welcomed customers into their orbit.
"We created this shop kind of with the vision of what we would want to buy and hoped everybody else would want to buy the same thing," Chandlery owner Stanford Ponson said.
Offering flowers, candles, and room sprays, among other things, Ponson has taken his online business the Old City Canning Company and stocked actual shelves.
"It's really important to give back to the community and be out here supporting people that are trying to thrive in a really hard time," Alyssa Feinstein, of Point Breeze, said.
Eyewitness News asked Stanford if anyone thought he was crazy opening up a brick and mortar extension of his business in a worldwide pandemic, and his response was, "oh, yeah."
"But go big or go home," Ponson said. "You got to take the risk."
That mantra has made The Angelo Pizza an overnight sensation, and yes, that is his last name.
"I've been making this pizza my whole life," Angelo Pizza said. "The recipe is my family recipe. Everything is still the same."
Six months ago, he was selling insurance. He sent a homemade frozen pizza to Dave Portnoy of Barstool Sports for a pizza review that netted his pie a sky-high 8.1 score and a new life.
"I'm very overwhelmed," Pizza said, "but regardless of that, the pizza is coming out great. I'm very happy with the product we're putting out."
Saturday was his grand opening, selling out 180 pies in 66 minutes.
John Carey felt a lot like Charlie from the Chocolate Factory, walking out of The Angelo Pizza holding three oven-baked golden tickets.
"It's been a long time coming. There's a lot of hype around it. I got a cheese pizza, sausage and peppers, I got a Carson pizza. I'm hoping it tastes a little better than his performance," Carey said.
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