After encountering the shock of losing their physical space, San Antonio small business owners said the timing of Fiesta was a saving grace as they adapt.
SAN ANTONIO — More than 200 small business owners set up shop in Southtown each year for King William Fair. This year, the opportunity meant a lot more for a handful of them.
Less than two weeks after dozens of San Antonio small businesses found themselves without a place to sell their wares when Painted Tree Boutiques suddenly closed, some received a timely boost of visibility and support at the one-day Fiesta events that typically draws thousands.
Painted Tree shuttered its location at Park North Shopping Center and other cities across the country on April 14 amid plans to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Later, the company told vendors the only way they might be able to recover their April rent or profits for products sold in the first half of the month is by filling a claim in bankruptcy court.
Natalie Trinidad, owner of Cultura Campaign, which called Painted Tree home for about three years, said the timing of the closure was especially hurtful because Fiesta month is typically one of her best.
“April is usually really good. It’s like a second Christmas for San Antonio, we really look forward to it,” Trinidad said. “A lot of businesses use Fiesta as a way to keep going on until we get to you know MuertosFest, Christmastime.”
Trinidad said about 30% to 40% of her business relied on Painted Tree, which allowed entrepreneurs to sell everything from jewelry and snacks to dresses and household goods without having to physically be there at all hours.
Losing her physical space and having to cram products into her home had a trickle-down effect that other vendors could attest to: It disrupted operations.
But Trinidad said meeting former customers at King William Fair gave the Cultura Campaign team a chance to remind them that the business is also online.
While it was Cultura Campaign’s third year at King William Fair, this was Rojelio Garcia’s first. A co-owner of Plush Panaderia, he said he was grateful for the opportunity to find new customers beyond Painted Tree.
“To come here and talk to the people and engage with them, that’s everything,” Garcia said.
Most of the vendors affected by Painted Tree’s closure didn’t know what was happening earlier this month until they got to the north-side store and found the doors locked—permanently, save for their opportunity to eventually get inside to retrieve their products.
A message from Painted Tree’s corporate team thanked shoppers, staff members and vendors who “showed up every day with kindness and purpose.” That initial statement pointed to economic conditions – including “rising costs, shifting market conditions and the evolving nature of how people shop” – as reasons for why it had to cease operations.
“Honestly, we’re just staying in a positive mental state,” Garcia said. “That’s pretty much all we can do—move along, move forward just like our people have done in the past.”
For the team behind PAWsitively Sweet Bakery – a creator of dog treats and other products that took up two spaces at Painted Tree, and thus paid more for rent – adapting is more difficult.
Painted Tree was pet-friendly, but the space they moved to after the closure, already a “postage stamp-sized” location compared to their previous spot, doesn’t welcome dogs. That means they aren’t done looking for their next location.
“It’s really stifled us, because we can’t carry a lot of things, and then our customers that are very loyal, they want to bring their dogs to shop with them. And they can’t do that right now,” said Esther Foster, a partner at PAWsitively Sweet Bakery. “It’s been a setback, but certainly not where we are completely unable to operate.”
The bakery has pivoted to rely even more on its online ordering; the business has established a countrywide base of customers who came to San Antonio, discovered them and continued to buy. The physical Painted Tree space accounted for about 20% of PAWsitively’s profits.
This is the eighth year Foster and her team set up shop at King William Fair. She said they also managed to get “phenomenal” business at Fiesta Fiesta, just two days after Painted Tree closed during what was shaping up to be a great month.
“It is such a difference for us,” she said. “If we weren’t here today, we wouldn’t be able to pay everybody’s payroll this month because it’s just been so hard just trying to keep afloat. It was a big, big shock.”
Now the 13-year business is using farmer’s market appearances and its online component to make ends meet as it plans next steps.
“We’ve always been able to innovate and move forward,” Foster said. “This is a really big bump in the road, but it certainly is not the end of us.”