West Side businesses highlight local culture, community on Small Business Saturday [Video]

SAN ANTONIO – Several small West Side businesses came together and encouraged people to shop locally during Small Business Saturday.

This holiday is geared to encourage the community to shop in their neighborhood.

“All the economic development that we have going on here just supports our culture and our neighborhood and raises us together,” said Alma Pina, Guadalupe Cultural Center Latino Bookstore manager.

Pina said the bookstore, which celebrated its third anniversary this year, was created to raise literacy rates on the West Side.

“It’s a desert for books. It’s a desert for literature. And we are in between three inner-city schools,” Pina said. “And so we have lots of students in our community, and we need it.”

Pina said the public does not usually see a representation of the bookstore in “big box stores.”

“You can go to these big …