A heavy snowstorm and official warnings to stay off the road brought Small Business Saturday, a yearly day of supporting local businesses, to a halt in Iowa City on Nov. 29. As the snow piled up, downtown Iowa City was quiet. 

“We were one of the very few shops that actually opened,” Macy Krall, owner of 223 Baby Co., said. “By 9 a.m., you could park right in front of the store, which is unheard of. No one was out, even the breakfast places weren’t busy.”

For shops like 223 Baby Co., a local baby boutique in downtown Iowa City, Small Business Saturday is typically one of the most important sales days of the year. Krall said she prepared heavily for the holiday weekend by stocking inventory and staffing her store. But the snow quickly changed everything, she said.

“We count on our three or four weekends every month to make our rent and payroll, and this was supposed to be one of our biggest weekends,” Krall said. “Instead, it was one of the worst sales days since I opened.”

Krall said most businesses around her, including Prairie Lights Bookstore and Revival, opened in the morning, but closed early after hours without any customers. Krall planned for Small Business Saturday by ordering promotional bags to hand out to the first 10 customers who spent over $50 on products in her boutique. Krall ended up handing out two promotional bags.

Krall said the shop paid more in payroll than they made all weekend. On Saturday, Krall counted four in person transactions made throughout the entire day, saying this is an 88 percent decrease from the number of sales that her shop had the previous year on Small Business Saturday.

Krall said she hoped online sales would soften the blow of the weekend, but even those remained slower than usual. Krall said this year has been a slower year for her business than past years, and blames factors like tariffs and inflation. 

“Everything’s gone up across the board,” Krall said. “People are definitely tighter with their wallets this holiday season.”

The financial strain is high for Krall as the calendar year comes to a close. Because January is when the store buys all of its inventory for the following year, Krall said it is vital for her business to adequately perform during the months of November and December. A slow start to the holiday season will put additional pressure on the early months of 2026. 

“If it’s going to be this kind of winter until March, we’re screwed for foot traffic,” Krall said. “There’s nowhere close to park and there are mounds of snow everywhere. Our foot traffic completely takes a nose dive in the winter.”

But downtown Iowa City is looking at a busy upcoming weekend. The Iowa City Downtown District is looking at launching a recovery effort this Saturday in an attempt to recreate the success of Small Business Saturday. 

“We’re kind of doing a little Small Business Saturday 2.0 this coming weekend,” Christopher Hunter, director of marketing for the Iowa City Downtown District, said.“We’re going to be pushing out a lot of offers, from shopping to dining to events.”

The downtown district is doing a holiday giveaway for shoppers Dec. 6 A purchase at a downtown retailer enters your name into a $1,000 prize to spend in downtown Iowa City. The downtown district has created a holiday food guide, highlighting holiday specials in restaurants and cafes around downtown. 

The Holiday Pop-up Market, a market with local vendors and holiday gifts, will also be going on Dec. 6. Sponsored by Hills Bank, free tractor wagon rides will be available, and during Dec. 4 through Dec. 7 at The Englert Theatre, the timeless Nutcracker ballet will be live on stage. 

The downtown district is also urging residents to support businesses downtown after weather disrupted the snowy weekend. 

“I would just continue to encourage people to keep coming downtown,” Hunter said. “This weekend is the perfect time to start or finish your holiday shopping.”

Krall said she expects to see a stronger turnout this weekend, bolstered by shoppers who were not able to come downtown during the storm. 

“My shoppers are huge shop-local people,” she said. “I think a lot of them were disappointed they couldn’t come. I do think people will come out and support.”

Megan Smelser, Iowa City resident and first-year student at the University of Iowa, said she was disappointed that she was unable to shop last weekend. For her, shopping locally is a priority.

“I think that owning brand name clothing and purchasing things exclusively from chains is not necessarily the right way to go about shopping,” Smelser said. “Oftentimes, I find more interesting objects at my local stores, as well as new coffee combinations.”

 The downtown district said it hopes these events will help make up for what the snowstorm disrupted last weekend.

“We’ve really tried to amp this up,” Hunter said. “And we do think people will come out.”

Smelser said that she will be coming down this coming weekend to support local businesses in Iowa City. 

“To me, small shopping is about celebrating the uniqueness of our community and finding what may not exist at larger corporations,” Smelser said.