SAN ANTONIO – Several small West Side businesses came together and encouraged people to shop locally during Small Business Saturday.
This holiday is geared to encourage the community to shop in their neighborhood.
“All the economic development that we have going on here just supports our culture and our neighborhood and raises us together,” said Alma Pina, Guadalupe Cultural Center Latino Bookstore manager.
Pina said the bookstore, which celebrated its third anniversary this year, was created to raise literacy rates on the West Side.
“It’s a desert for books. It’s a desert for literature. And we are in between three inner-city schools,” Pina said. “And so we have lots of students in our community, and we need it.”
Pina said the public does not usually see a representation of the bookstore in “big box stores.”
“You can go to these big box stores and do we see our representation on the shelves? Not all the time,” Pina said. “So here at the Latino bookstore, we offer Indigenous, Chicano, and Afro-Latino books and titles on our shelves only.”
Author Deborah Quetzpal Vasquez said she encourages people to shop locally during Small Business Saturday to support other local vendors, adding that having her books in the local bookstore has made a big difference in her life.
“This is their paycheck, “she said.” It really makes a difference on whether or not they’re successful for this year.”
