THE future of small businesses in Dunfermline is looking bright this Christmas, according to those behind some of the most popular spots in the city centre.

The UK celebrated Small Business Saturday, held this year on December 3, last week and the Press caught up with three of the shops involved to hear how they are coping amid the cost-of-living crisis.

Olga Gerogianni opened her first Estia Soaps store in September in the hope that her online success would translate into heavy footfall.

And she thinks the run-up to Christmas could be the key to success, saying that there had been an obvious rise in customers since the start of December.

She said: "We are now entering Christmas season and people have started doing their shopping.

"This year, I think most people were holding off, it was a delayed start, usually you see people starting in November.

"We already have repeat customers, it helps that customers knew us when we were online, but now new customers who didn't already know are coming back.

"I think people are happy to see something a bit different on the high street."

The Press reported in 2021 that Olga had taken a leap of faith launching her own business, having left her home in Corfu for Dunfermline due to dire economic circumstances.

Her then family-of-three sold everything they had and started their new life in West Fife with just three suitcases and slept on the floor for a month in an empty apartment.

She had planned to work as a spa manager as she had in Greece but when her youngest son, Aggelos, who is now four, was born with Down's Syndrome, she decided to start her own soap-making business from home.

The 44-year-old picked up four awards last year alone.

In the new year, Olga hopes to turn her focus towards holding workshops and other events in a dedicated room within her shop, saying that the past two months had been too busy for her or her husband, Spiros, to think about anything but the business.

She also described how being a new business had helped her to cope with rising bills.

"I don't have much to compare it to for now, I will figure it out in the next month or so," she said.

"It's great to see more people supporting small businesses now and I think more people need to find out about us and other small shops."

Since re-opening in October following a £600,000 refurbishment, Abbot House has also been reaping the rewards of offering something new in the city centre.

The 'pink hoose' has been given a new lease of life with coffee lounge and gardens, artisan workshop, Go Escape room, artist studios and gift shop.

It's a huge turnaround from August 2015 when the crumbling 16th-century townhouse, which had been operating as a heritage centre, was shuttered up and closed amid financial problems.

Louise Hutchison, operations manager, has been "delighted" at the response, despite challenges created by high bills and costs.

She said: "In addition to our gift shop on Saturday we hosted a vibrant pop-up shop in our workshop by two of our resident artisans, Clarabella Christie and McNaughton Studios.

"Both reported back that they were delighted with footfall and sales.

"As a small business who supports 50 per cent local artisans, Small Business Saturday is really important to us and we're very grateful to all our customers who are supporting us as a charity to keep Abbot House open."

She continued: "Abbot House is a very big house so our utility bills are a challenge, together with significant insurance costs.

"As a charity, our objective is to cover our costs and make enough profit to undertake our ongoing maintenance plan."

The owners of Cafe Fresh, on Kirkgate, have faced their own set of problems, with football "thugs" causing damage costing around £1,700 to their outdoor furniture back in September.

Kev Reekie, who runs the cafe with his wife, Jennifer, said he had hoped that his insurance would cover the cost, however, that hasn't been possible.

"It's been challenging," he told the Press. "Equipment was damaged but business has been good, hopefully that continues throughout Christmas.

"With footfall we have been very fortunate, and not many people are dining al fresco anyway in three degree weather!"

His plan had been to replace the furniture within weeks but now he doesn't believe that this will be possible even before next summer, unless he forks out the money himself.

He added: "It's proving frustrating but things are positive, as long as that retains, it will be good."

MP Douglas Chapman has hailed Dunfermline as a "city for entrepreneurs", calling for people like Olga, Louise and Kev to "keep it going".

He said: "I spent last Friday visiting some of our many innovative and varied small businesses in Dunfermline's city centre ahead of Small Business Saturday.

"From Cafe Fresh, the perfect spot for some respite from Christmas shopping for tea, cake and a blether, to the stunning selection of locally-made gifts and crafts at Abbot House shop, to the newly-opened Estia Soaps on the East Port, with their locally-made natural soaps, bath salts and healing treatments and finally a new small business focused on digital marketing, Scunnered Digital at the Maygate Exchange, it was great to see that Dunfermline is fast developing a reputation for being a city for entrepreneurs, start-ups and scale-ups."