Corri Smith is skilled at helping businesses reach new customers. It’s a skill more important than ever right now.

“People are losing money left and right, they’re losing business, they’re losing staff members,” Smith said.

She owns Black Wednesday, a marketing firm in Charlotte. Black Wednesday, along with Hygge Coworking, created SupportLocalorElse.com. It’s a website where small, local businesses around Charlotte can post deals and ways for customers to shop and support during the coronavirus pandemic.

“We really do need to get to the other side, and we need the small businesses to get there,” Smith said.

Small businesses like Boardwalk Billy’s, Lincoln’s Haberdashery, and Killingtons Huntersville are some of the restaurants on Support Local or Else trying to survive while dining in a restaurant is banned in North Carolina.

There are more than 480,000 people working in restaurants or food service in the state, 11 percent of employment in the state according to N.C. Restaurant and Lodging Association.

Looking at the more than 115 businesses on Support Local or Else, you realize how many industries are at risk from the coronavirus.

“It’s about so much more than the coronavirus at this point,” Smith said. “It’s going to push us into a new economic state.”

It’s what SLOE wants people to think about while they spend their money…or else. Businesses wanting to be listed on the website can fill out a form online. 

original article via Spectrum News