11 Brooklyn Shops and Restaurants to Check Out This Small Business Saturday

The pressure to tackle holiday shopping has accelerated now that the Thanksgiving meal has been gobbled up, so if you want to check some items off your list while strolling through some Brooklyn neighborhoods and supporting local shops, you can spend your dollars during Small Business Saturday this weekend.

The annual nationwide event, originally started by American Express in 2010, encourages patronage of local businesses on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. This year, that date is Saturday, November 25. Brooklyn mom and pop venues across the borough are participating, and eateries offer a break amidst shopping and, in some cases, gifts and gift certificates.

To start you off as you compile a shopping list, we’ve rounded up almost a dozen Brooklyn shops, makers, and restaurants and their owners featured in Brownstoner in 2023.

The Ripped Bodice will invite customers inside for an opening party on August 5. Photo by Susan De Vries

Popular LA Romance Bookstore The Ripped Bodice to Open in Park Slope

A bookstore focused exclusively on romance novels that has found success in Los Angeles will debut a Park Slope outpost at 218 5th Avenue.

Founded by “lifelong romance readers” sisters Leah and Bea Koch, The Ripped Bodice opened its doors in 2016, and claims to be the first bookstore in the U.S. focused solely on the romance genre.

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The Win Son team. Photo by Laura Murray

Food for Friends: Win Son’s Founders Dish on the Importance of Chasing Your Dreams

A somewhat unlikely Taiwanese-American eatery in Williamsburg, a labor of love bootstrapped by two fledgling restaurateurs, has taken off – so much so that the prime minister of Taiwan recently visited. A place to try new flavors and inventive combinations, with a charming DIY interior and old-fashioned sign, Win Son is not strictly traditional but the food is fun, flavorful, and approachable.

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John McFadden Jr. has taken over the family-owned business. Photo by Anna Bradley-Smith

Beloved Cobble Hill Butcher Staubitz Fundraises for Facade Repair After Longtime Owner’s Death

For more than a century, Staubitz Market has been a neighborhood staple in Cobble Hill, peddling premium steaks to its Court Street neighbors and earning a loyal following along the way. For more than half that time, it’s been butcher John McFadden, and more recently his son John McFadden Jr., standing behind the carving block and porcelain cooler, keeping the family business running and improving the local knowledge of meat marbleization.

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Nosheen Ahmed runs her family’s clothing store, Future Fashion, in Brooklyn’s Little Pakistan. Photo by Anna Bradley-Smith

Little Pakistan’s Clothing Stores, Cultural Hubs for Community, Struggle With Rising Costs

Coney Island Avenue – the arterial route spanning from Prospect Park to Brighton Beach – cuts through four neighborhoods, houses thousands of people, and has stores peddling everything from secondhand goods to tax preparation services. Depending on which stretch you’re on, you’ll see banners offering immigration advice in a range of languages. It may not be Brooklyn’s most conventionally attractive street, but it is eye-catching.

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Winfield’s staff members Tashaka McDuffie and Monique McField. Photo by Anna Bradley-Smith

Winfield’s Opens in Old Manny’s Space in Bed Stuy, Slinging Burgers, Salads, Bagels

Winfield’s, a new family-friendly, diner-style restaurant, has opened on Bed Stuy’s Patchen Avenue offering breakfast and lunch at affordable prices, with plans to extend to dinner and brunch service.

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Lofty Pigeon Books will open at 743 Church Avenue. Photo by Susan De Vries

Lofty Pigeon Books to Open in Kensington, Adding to Slew of New Indie Bookstores in Brooklyn

A new independent bookstore, Lofty Pigeon Books, plans to debut on Kensington’s Church Avenue this summer.

Run by wife-and-husband team Briana Parker and Davi Marra, the store will have a hand-picked selection of around 5,000 books and will also carry retail items harder to find along the commercial corridor, such as gift cards, stationary, and puzzles.

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Andrés Galindo Maria stands outside Nenes’ Starr Street location. Photo by Anna Bradley-Smith

As Bushwick’s Nenes Taqueria Grows in Brooklyn, Its Owner Eyes Birria Empire

Over the past two years, Bushwick local Andrés Tonatiuh Galindo Maria has started building something of a small-business empire in Brooklyn. The foundation? Birria tacos. The special ingredient? “That’s easy, it’s love,” Galindo Maria laughs.

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Saul Quizat sells flowers, plants, and handicrafts from his town in Mexico. Photo by Anna Bradley-Smith

Bushwick Flower Stalls Create Hubs of Peace, Small Business Opportunities for Local Immigrants

It’s 8 a.m. on an overcast Bushwick morning. The J train rumbles overhead. A man asks for change at the entrance to the Kosciuszko Street subway station as a woman scurries past, coffee in hand.

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Taylor & Co. Books will be opening at 1021 Cortelyou Road. Photo by Susan De Vries

He Grew Up in Ditmas Park. Now He’s Come Back to the Neighborhood to Open a Bookstore

When Andrew Colarusso was growing up in Ditmas Park, he used to get his haircut at Christyles barber shop at 1021 Cortelyou Road. Now, more than 15 years later, he is opening his own bookstore, Taylor & Co. Books, in the same building.

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Montage Brooklyn will soon open its doors at 210 Patchen Avenue. Photo by Anna Bradley-Smith

Montage Brooklyn, a Cafe and Wine Bar With Tastes of New Mexico, Is Coming to Bed Stuy

Cafe and natural wine bar Montage Brooklyn will soon open its doors on Patchen Avenue, bringing flavors of the founders’ home state of New Mexico to Bed Stuy through treats including green chile cheese croissants and blueberry corn masa muffins.

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Market Bar Brooklyn is set to open this weekend. Photo by Anna Bradley-Smith

Owner of Haitian Restaurant Zanmi Opens Artisanal Pizza Spot in Prospect Lefferts Gardens

Flatbush’s Nostrand Avenue is in need, according to Chef Wesly Jean Simon, who owns Haitian restaurant Zanmi, which sits on the corner of the block and Hawthorne Street. There are few good pizza restaurants in the area, according to Jean Simon, and people around the Winthrop Street station, including the staff at Kings County Hospital, have to walk too far for their morning coffee.