SouthCoast Women to Host 36 Small Businesses for Holiday Fair

As SouthCoast shoppers check off their holiday lists, two local businesses owners hope that most shoppers choose to support small businesses. Maureen Rainha of Westport and Nicole Viveiros of Tiverton will be hosting over 30 local businesses under one roof on Saturday for their first Holiday Fair event at Whites of Westport.

Rainha has been the proud owner of Maureen’s Custom Boutique for the past three years. She has attended several fairs and events over the years to promote her boutique, but she began noticing a trend that didn’t sit well with her.

“They’re really expensive to be a part of,” Rainha said. “You have to pay for a spot, and it’s usually around $75, but then you have to buy your table and anything else for your set up to make it look nice, and you usually have to pay a vendor’s fee.”

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Rainha has spent upwards of $400 just to be a part of vendor events, and often doesn’t see the return on investment.

On the business side, Rainha and some of her fellow business owners have seen a decline in sales this year.

“Last year, everyone came together to support struggling small businesses, and it’s like this year, they forgot,” Rainha said. It’s as if shopping small was “trendy” in 2020 and now people are back to using the convenience of online shopping and big box stores again.

Rainha met Viveiros through an online couponing group that Rainha created, and when they discovered they had similar struggles, they decided to do something about it this holiday season with Merry Making Happenings and remind the community that small businesses still need their help.

The purpose of this event is to support shopping small this holiday season and to provide people with a place to do their holiday shopping in a joyful environment.

“This event will allow us to showcase some of the newer small businesses in our area, bring together local small businesses with the people of our community, and build relationships between those businesses,” Rainha said.

“We lowered the price for vendors, and we will be providing tables for everyone,” she said. “Our motto is collaboration over competition, so we made sure each vendor was unique to avoid competing with other businesses there.”

The event is free to attend as you finish off your shopping lists with local flair, and there will be fun activities for children, a hot chocolate bar, coffee, holiday music, and more.

Merry Making Happenings kicks off at 12 pm at Whites of Westport this Saturday.