I don't know if this counts as a small business, exactly, but they don't have a stack of stores and until I stumbled across them this weekend I had never heard of them. Why does this matter? Because they fixed one of the biggest issues of my existence in one visit. Therefore, I feel everyone needs to know about them.
I know there are heaps of swimwear stores out there so you may be thinking "what's the big deal", and fair enough. The big deal is, this is not just a run of the mill swimwear store. They have the exceptional benefit of stocking bikini tops by not only size (eg 12) but also cup size (eg D-DD).
I have avoided swimwear shopping and by extension swimming in public for YEARS because of the difficulty of finding tops to fit E cup into. Fine maybe if you ar size 18, but when you are size 10-12 it just will never work.
I ran out of avoiding however when we booked our honeymoon for this Christmas holiday - a cruise to Vanautu. Bikini kinda necessary. I have exercised myself to a flat stomach but still had to work a solution to the clothing issue.
Bikini Island at Harbour Town is the factory outlet for the company, which means cheaper (yay) and they have a great range that actually look like swimwear, not bras, which is fabulous.
I got 3 bikini tops for under $90, which is really quite reasonable I think, even by comparison to stores like Target, whose swimwear I have no hope of fitting.
Beyond the awesomeness of the product (and yes, they have normal size stuff too, career for everyone) the staff are fabulous. Cheerful and very happy to help. Qualities that are hard to find in many stores these days.
Ok, that's my spiel. Maybe not a small business, again, but definitely one that I believe fills a market gap well. Happy shopping!