San Francisco Ghirardelli Square store sees uptick in business following APEC Summit
A store in San Francisco's Ghirardelli Square says business continues to improve for them and their fellow tenants in the months since the APEC Summit gave them an opportunity to expose their products to an international audience.
During National Small Business Week, the Small Business Administration wants to celebrate the contributions of restaurants, stores, and other companies that provide almost half of all private sector jobs.
"We are feeling pretty positive that elizabethW currently had a good month of April and weather has turned gorgeous on us and good weather always helps with small business retail in San Francisco," said Michael Lindsay, owner of elizabethW San Francisco.
Lindsay's outlook matches a recent survey by PNC Financial Services Group from earlier this year, which found that 55% of respondents are "highly optimistic" about the national economy in 2024. The polling included small and midsize business owners, according to CBS MoneyWatch.
"We're over the worst of, you know, quiet February, quiet March and now it's just hopefully plain sailing through the summertime," Lindsay said.
Last fall, elizabethW was included in the official gift bag for attendees of the APEC Summit. He says that gave them the chance to showcase their brand and products to customers overseas they would never otherwise capture in the Bay Area. The mayor's office chose them again this month by using a specially designed bag featuring a panda for Mayor London Breed's trip to China. Lindsay adds that even the media attention around their participation with APEC helped catch the eye of local customers.
"We've been doing it a long time so we're pretty organized and we know how to make our products locally and we have a great team and pretty much that's the answer, we have a great team of people working with us," he said.
While the rising cost of operations and increased security concerns have hit some businesses hard in San Francisco, Lindsay says their 29 years in the community have given them an approach that keeps working even in that environment.
The company just opened a new location at San Francisco International Airport and the weeks ahead look good for him and his fellow tenants at Ghirardelli Square with summer weather around the corner. Lindsay says he feels the shopping center has added more businesses than before in recent memory, helping to improve the climate for all shops there.
