Local community group Friends of The Floyd Country Store is running a fundraising campaign to help support the Floyd Country Store through the economic hardships of COVID-19.
This year has been tough for many small businesses, and The Floyd Country Store is no exception. The weekly event known around the world, The Friday Night Jamboree, cannot take place as it once did—packing folks of all ages onto the dance floor and along the streets every Friday night. The Store is adapting to this new reality and continuing to present traditional Appalachian music through small outdoor events and online live streams. Despite constant innovation and hard work to provide music, shopping and freshly-made food, business at The Floyd Country Store has dropped dramatically, and owners Dylan Locke and Heather Krantz wonder how they can make it through to the other side.
According to the National Independent Venue Association:
- Venues like The Floyd Country Store were the first to close due to this pandemic, and will be the last to fully reopen.
- 90% of independent venues report they will close permanently in a few months without federal funding. Current PPP funding will not solve the crisis.”
- For small independent venues like the Floyd Country Store, opening at partial capacity is not profitable since many costs are fixed.
The Friends of the Floyd Country Store want to provide #SmallBusinessRelief so the Store can remain a place where music lovers from Floyd and the world gather to carry on musical traditions. The Store team has helped many through hard times and now we want to help the Store through this crisis.
“The Floyd Country Store is essential to the local economy and is an ambassador for the community at-large. People who visit stay overnight at B&B’s, they visit retail and farm stores and artisan studios and they tell their friends about their experience here. I know first-hand the effects of the Friday Night Jamboree. On Friday nights, sales at [my business] Bootleg BBQ increase by 60% compared to the rest of the week. Although the Floyd Country Store could profit from alcohol sales, the Store prefers to keep the mood of the performances natural and downhome for the benefit of the community. They understand the importance of their business to our community, and we need to support them so that they can continue to support us.”
Jon Beegle, Floyd business owner and local business leader
Proceeds will help cover operating costs like paying staff and providing PPE, paying the mortgage and utilities, and helping with the constant adaptations required to keep it going through COVID. Thank you for helping if you can. If you can’t we understand. Thank you.