The La Grange bakery thanks customers for shopping on site

LAGRANGE, Ky. – Andrea Essenpreis has a passion for baking.

“I always loved baking as a child, and when my first son was born in 2004, I started baking from home as a hobby and passion,” says the food price.

This hobby soon turned into a profession when she opened Questions and Answers Sweet Treats in 2011. To usher in the Small Business Saturday this year, the baker and her shop celebrated their 10th anniversary on November 27, 2021.

According to Small Business Consumer Survey 2020 for SaturdayOn Saturday, shoppers spent nearly $ 19.8 billion on Small Business Saturday, up from $ 19.6 billion in 2019.

Essenpreis has seen the results in person, especially during the pandemic.

“We just put what we had every day online and people would call and we would send it to them on the curb. We had the little mobile credit card reader and were so busy that we could barely keep up. There were three employees, ”said Essenpreis.

But success came with some struggles as Essenpreis had some of life’s toughest fights along the way.

“I got divorced in 2016, and the day before we went to mediation in March 2017, I was diagnosed with breast cancer, which was kind of one, two,” she said.

Small Business Saturday is more than just local shopping. The food price inspires and cultivates a sense of community.

“When you’re both a small business owner and a single parent, it was challenging or daunting to think about, but really [the community] made it possible, that’s why I’m so proud to be able to give something back, ”said the price of the meal.

Small business Saturday day online shopping for small businesses increased to 56% in 2020, up from 43% in 2019.