ROCHESTER, N.Y. — With the holiday season in full swing, New York residents have a powerful way to make an impact.

“I work for a tech company full time,” said Cobble Candles owner Stefan Uveges. “This is something that I do on the side. It’s definitely a commitment in regards to time, space. It’s just a lot to take on for one person, but I have so much fun doing it. It’s a really good time.”

More than 34 million small businesses across the country make up the vast majority of all companies and employ more than half of the nation’s working class. 

Stefan Uveges’ business is one of them. 

“Getting people to buy into the idea of spending maybe a little bit more than they’re used to from a big box store, but then you’re also supporting local and supporting small, which is huge,” Uveges said. “We’ll be at vendor markets and people will, like, look at the candles, smell the candles, love the candles. And then they’ll look at the price, and it’s not matching like the big box stores. But then you’re not getting it from a small business that really cares about their ingredients. All of these are nontoxic, pet safe, zinc-free and lead-free wax — all 100% natural soy wax.”

From economic uncertainty and tariffs, Uveges isn’t the only one feeling the burn. A national survey from nonprofit Main Street America found that 45% of the nearly 1,300 small business owners who responded experienced a drop in net profit this fall.

“Prices are going up for everything faster than we can keep up with it,” Hedonist Artisan Chocolates owner Jennifer Posey said. “So, like something we might have bought for a dollar, you know, two years ago might be $1.50. And we’re like, ‘whoa.’ And it’s hard to keep up with that. Especially in a place like this, where we have a lot of moving parts. We started about 20 years ago, and we were taking ideas and memories of things that we’ve had in the past, and using chocolate as a medium to express those ideas to everybody here in Rochester and in the country. ”

The holidays have become a lifeline for several businesses who hope for an end-of-year boost.

“We have hundreds of recipes and they all have ingredients, and then we have the packaging that goes with them and all the details,” Posey said. “So to keep up with rising prices of things and to then go back and price our things accordingly, and also, create enough revenue to pay our staff, you know, a nice wage during the holiday season. Forty percent of our business is in December. We’ve already started preparing for next Christmas with how much we need to purchase, what boxes we’re going to use and how much ribbon. So there’s a long, long game of that.”

“I’m happy and proud that people keep us in their traditions,” Posey continued. “And I hope that we can keep everybody happy and keep those traditions alive.”