MADEIRA BEACH, Fla. — With Black Friday and Small Business Saturday, huge shopping days mean a little bit more to businesses hit hard by the back-to-back hurricanes in the Bay Area.

Especially in those coastal communities.

What You Need To Know

  •  Many businesses at John's Pass in Pinellas County remain closed after Hurricanes Helen and Milton

  • Lori-Ann Gordon, who manages two businesses in the area, said she hopes people will visit, even though numerous businesses remain shuttered

  • Gordon said businesses in the area are "coming back stronger than ever"

When people think about shopping, most don’t think about caution tape or locked doors with businesses damaged by hurricanes. But that is the case at John’s Pass. Some of the owners of the businesses there want people to know that despite what it looks like, many of them are open. 

The homemade taffy is stretched on a machine for all to see at Zeno’s Boardwalk Sweet Shop at John’s Pass.  

“We’re very proud of our homemade saltwater taffy,” said general manager Lori-Ann Gordon. “We have over a hundred flavors that you can choose from.”

Gordon, who is also the general manager at Zeno’s Wine Shop, said the only thing sweeter than that treats are the customers she’s so happy to welcome back, like Stephen Predoehl and his wife Lezanne.

“Our friend lives in St. Pete and she said she’d heard that John’s Pass was open, so we wanted to come and support them,” Lezanne said. “Because we come here every year at Christmas to do Christmas shopping. We love all of the quaint little gift shops.”

The couple, who was visiting from Lake Wales, was seeing damage from the storms for the first time.

“The drive here was shocking to me,” Lezanne said. “It’s the first time we’ve been here and still seeing all of the piles of sand and debris, and all the businesses along that strip of Gulf Boulevard that are still not open.”

That didn’t stop them from making their way to John’s Pass, past all of the boarded-up businesses.

“It’s open, come on.” Lezanne said.

“Yeah, come on down,” said Stephen. “It’s a great place to still come to every weekend and just enjoy yourself.”

That’s the kind of message Gordon hopes will catch on with others who are out shopping. She said they can use all of the business they can get, especially this weekend.

“If you do walk around, people have asked me quite a few times, ‘How bad is it,’” Gordon said. “Some didn’t even know it was this bad, depending on where they’re from, and it’s a once-in-a-lifetime storm. It just did a lot of devastating damage. If you go around and look here, you’ll see that we’re coming back stronger than ever.”