(COLORADO SPRINGS) — The Local Honey Collective is getting ready for what they hope will be a busy weekend, one that will help keep the business on its feet. After a fire struck in December in Downtown Colorado Springs, this boutique along with the other businesses in the Majestic Building were forced to close their doors to customers due to smoke damage.

“We really just are in a little bit of a financial pickle after the fire to say it lightly,” said Co-owner of The Local Honey Collective, Cara McQueeney. “We are just trying to raise some funds so we can have some cash to keep going as a business and stay active in our community.”

The other managing half to this store is Hailey Sardi, who explained how a friendship and shared dream brought the vision of The Local Honey Collective to life.

“Cara and I met at CSU up in Fort Collins in 2018… and we ended up both moving up to the Springs and just weren’t happy with what we were doing,” Sardi explained. “The Springs is so big and we both just had this dream of having a space that we got to help women gather and a place to shop and come and meet each other.”

The Local Honey Collective opened its doors in Downtown Colorado Springs in 2019, where the boutique persevered through the challenges of the pandemic. Beyond selling clothes for all to enjoy, the store also served as a space for special events to enhance its connection with the Southern Colorado community.

“Just having women and people gather in our space is just truly one of the most heart and joy feeling things, and so we miss that,” Sardi said. “We want we want to be able to have people gather again.”

In downtown Colorado Springs, The Local Honey Collective is one of several businesses that had to close its doors because of the electrical fire.

Having to close their doors during the holiday season, the Downtown Development Authority announced a gift card mob to help support both The Local Honey Collective and its neighbor Yobel with sales.

“We are so grateful for the community and the support that we received during that time,” McQueeney said. “That did help a lot, but yeah, just still need a lot more finances to keep going and so this is the next step to get all of our inventory that was damaged in this with the smoke from the fire, to get that out of our door and get a new inventory in.”

On Friday afternoon, several people tried to look into the boutique only to realize there was barely anything inside. The Local Honey Collective is not the only one with a shuttered business, as their neighbors were also forced to close from the damage of the fire.

“When you come downtown Colorado Springs, it’s a different experience than you’ll have anywhere else and it’s local businesses and local owners like these guys that really give it the personality,” said Director of Marketing and Communications for the Downtown Partnership of Colorado Springs, Carrie Simison.

Even though their doors bear closed signs, Simison is hopeful that the Southern Colorado community will come to appreciate the significant impact of supporting local businesses.

“I mean, it’s so easy to go online, but you get no benefit to your community by that,” Simison said. “When you shop local, at least $0.70 from every dollar stays in the community and it doesn’t just stay here, then the taxes that you pay help for the roads, they help education, like shopping local means so much more than just buying something out of business, it really does help our community thrive”

The fire sale has so much available with inventory sorted by size helping shoppers find exactly what they are looking for.

Now rows of clothes are inside of the Meanwhile Block, sorted by gender, age, and size for customers to pick out and purchase. A sign above the check out area provides recommendations for customers on removing any smoke smell the item may have.

“We are really grateful all of the smoke can be removed from the product that you’re buying,” McQueeney said. “A lot of the restoration companies that we talked to assured us that the smoke can come out. That is the only reason we’re not able to sell it at full price is because we would have to wash it first, so we’re just letting you guys do the washing it will come out with in two or three washes.”

Stickers appear by the price tag indicating the cost of the product ranging from $5 to $60 depending on the item. Looking ahead to the warmer months, the co-owners hope to sell current inventory to help with purchasing new clothes.

“If we could get rid of everything that would be amazing,” Sardi said. “Our goal is to get rid of it so that we can then have cash flow to purchase new inventory to keep going for summer, spring, all of that.”

The sale will be held on Jan. 27 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and will also be on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., located at 425 South Sierra Madre Street in Colorado Springs. Details can also be found on their social media page, which can be found here.

On the tags of the clothes, there are colored stickers to indicate how much a certain product costs.

Although the future remains uncertain, the co-owners are staying optimistic of keeping a storefront in Colorado Springs. For now, having support from the community serves as a main inspiration for staying in business.

“We are just really holding on to that this is happening for a reason and there’s a greater purpose and we just have to continue to remind ourselves that we will get to the other side and see a reason and just have to stay positive with each step,” McQueeney said. “It’s hard, but we are just able to lean on each other, which we’re really grateful for and the community too, has just been incredible throughout this. “