TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — There's another "Rally for Tally" businesses, and this time the focus is online sales for retailers.
Shop Tally's goal is to get people to support retailers even while social distancing.
"It's a lot different not having customers walked through the door," said Lauren Teal. "You've got a beautiful show room and displays products and nobody seeing it."
Teal has owned "My Favorite Things" in Tallahassee for more than three decades and says she has a pretty loyal customer base.
The problem now is that the products she's used to stocking aren't selling during COVID-19.
"Started shipping here in January, in hopes of a great season," said Teal. "We were off to a great start for 2020. This really has kind of put a damper on our budget. We've got a lot of inventory that is so not timeless. It is seasonal and people need to see it now."
Businesses like Teal's are the reason Shop Tally is having a "Follow-A-Thon" on Friday.
"Social media is such an important tool to connect people to the businesses," said Barbara Westcott. "Join us all day long, go on social media so it's online event. Just start liking and following all the different and amazing businesses we have here in our community"
Westcott runs the website for Shop Tally and says now is the time to not only rally behind local companies, but also an easy way to do so, safely.
"Even in the environment we have right now," Westcott said. "Amazon just hired 100,000 people because of the increased amount of online sales. This is something that has been impacted for long time, so what we need to do is get more people shopping locally, keeping their dollars here."
Teal says with this support comes high hopes.
"Hang in there," said Teal. "We're gonna get through this and be better when it comes out the other side."
The Follow-A-Thon will happen all day Friday.
Walmart stores in Florida are also hiring. A spokesperson sent us the following statement:
Walmart is hiring 150,000 new associates through the end of May, including more than 9,400 associates across Florida, to work in its stores, clubs, distribution centers and fulfillment centers. Key Florida Markets for Hiring Include: Jacksonville, Tallahassee, Panama City, Orlando, and Destin.
