As people celebrate this season of love, it’s also important to spread the love to Manhattan’s local businesses. The winter months are hard on restaurants, especially small local businesses, and even grabbing coffee from a local shop rather than a chain store makes a difference.

In an Instagram post on Jan 17, Arrow Cocktail Lounge highlighted how hard winter can be for small businesses.

“As you plan your meals and your nights out, please, please consider skipping the chains and supporting the local joints — and the local bartenders and servers and chefs that make them special,” Arrow Cocktail Lounge said.

The post sparked overwhelming support, with multiple local businesses reposting the message and many locals having dinner dates at small businesses.

“As long as y’all continue to support local, we’re feeling the love!” Arrow Cocktail Lounge said.

Katherine Lewinski, a worker at Bourbon and Baker, said she can see how much of an impact shopping locally in Manhattan has on the small businesses here.

“Winter is definitely slower for business; the weather always affects whether people go out or not,” Lewinski said. “I think K-State is one of the main reasons why these local businesses are open, and do so well because of the support of students and their families.”

Lewinski said dates are more sentimental by shopping locally for Valentine’s Day.

“It makes it more special to shop local because it shows that people care for the local businesses, but also the businesses care a lot about the people,” Lewinski said. “We don’t want these business owners who care so much about where they work to go out of business.”

Having a more impactful date night isn’t the only reason to shop local; many local businesses also offer Valentine’s Day specials.

Steve’s Floral sources all flowers from Kansas-based greenhouses, and in the warmer months they come straight from Manhattan, joining other small businesses to create Valentine specials.

“Our gourmet chocolates are made by The Granada in Emporia, and this year we are also partnering with Radina Bakehouse so you can add a gift card to every Valentine’s Day delivery,” Jan Miller, owner of Steve’s Floral, said. “Supporting all our local businesses is just the thing to do.”

Whether it’s flowers, chocolate, a dinner date or even a quick coffee run, consider shopping locally this holiday to celebrate the Manhattan community as much as the people in our lives.