Shop RI Goes Big On Small Business Saturday

WARWICK, RI — Small Business Saturday’s annual assembly of entrepreneurs returned for a sold-out expo Saturday with thousands of eager shoppers browsing 166 vendors at Crowne Plaza, including first-timers and regulars.

Shop RI volunteers Bob and Maria Killian were busy greeting shoppers and handing out tote bags as people approached from the main entrance. The entire first floor of the hotel was filled with Shop RI vendors, said Sue Babin, Rhode Island Developmental Disabilities Council Special Projects Coordinator and chair of Shop RI. Vendors included sellers of food, gifts, books, travel, crafts, jewelry, books, and sculpture.

Hosted by the RIDDC, U.S. Small Business Administration, Veterans Business Outreach Center, and Center for Women and Enterprise, the event allows the public to support local small businesses while getting some holiday shopping done.

“Time goes by so fast,” said Bob, who, with Marie, helped Babin start the Shop RI pop-up mall  of small businesses in 2017 as RIDDC members, partly to offer a high-traffic environment for entrepreneurs with disabilities. They had 94 vendors that year, and 1,200 people showed up.

“It’s triple that now,” Bob said.

Shop RI lifts all boats as one

RIDDC offers people with disabilities business development classes and other resources funded by a grant from the State Department of Labor and Training to help them start and grow their businesses. Shop RI’s Small Business Saturday event is their biggest sales day each year. Their participation as members of the business community  – inclusion in the community – is a key goal of the RIDDC’s program.

Jay Mackay, Associate Administrator, Supported Employment at the state’s Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities & Hospitals (BHDDH) stood among the Crown Plaza crowds, and assessed Babin’s doing a great  job, a good thing from his perspective.

“I have a soft spot for self-employment,” MacKay said. The flexibility allows people with disabilities to set their own hours, be their own boss, and work when they’re best able to bring their creativity and passion to their work. It’s a big advantage that keeps them active and productive.

At the south entrance to the expo, Babin’s team was set up at a row of tables to greet shoppers and help organize vendors. Among the team, Deb Morais, President and CEO at Communication Works, Inc., doing PR for the event, is receiving good news from shoppers.

“I’ve heard people are getting all of their Xmas shopping done, which is good,” Morais said.

Among the vendors,  Artist Rachel Rasnick, an RIDDC alum, is selling prints of her artwork singly and printed on mugs, cards and doing well, she said.

“I made a few sales,” she said.

Not long ago, Sen. Jack Reed commissioned her print, ‘Winter at the State House,” depicting Rhode Island’s state house amid snow and bare trees.

“Really good,” said Brittany Armilotto, owner and creative force behind Brittany’s Crafty Corner, where she was selling her knotted double-layered blankets to eager patrons.

Across the aisle, Caroline Bhatia and Tanya Wright were selling premium hardwood cutting, charcuterie, cheese boards, butcher block, sushi table boards, coasters, pizza peels, products of The Carpenter’s Shop Vocational Training for residents and apprentices of the Adult and Teen Challenge, Southern New England Women, a long-term, faith-based residential recovery program which helps people recovering from addiction return to productive lives under the instruction master carpenters.

“This program saved my life,” said Wright, now three years sober.

Vicki Esty, owner of Made By Vicki Jams and Jellies, doesn’t have a brick and mortar store, relying on fairs and expos throughout the year. Shop RI at Crowne Plaza is usually the most successful of them, she said.

“This was a reall good one for us,” Esty said.