There are millions of small business owners in this country, forming the backbone of our economy. And some of them are movie stars and rock stars!

Samuel’s Sweet Shop

In 1994, a textile worker from New York state’s Hudson Valley named Ira Gutner quit his job in the family business to fulfill a lifelong dream: to open a small, old-fashioned candy store. Gutner ran Samuel’s of Rhinebeck in Rhinebeck, New York for 20 years, up until his untimely death in 2014. Actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Grey’s Anatomy, The Walking Dead) had once shot a movie in Rhinebeck, and says the first person who befriended him was Gutner. Not wanting to see the shop turn into a chain business (like “a smoothie stand”), Morgan pooled his money with his friend, actor Paul Rudd, and together they bought the shop and renamed it Samuel’s Sweet Shop.

Bess Bistro & Walton’s Fancy and Staple

Sandra Bullock lives in Austin, Texas, when she isn’t shooting a movie. She owns two little businesses there. One’s a restaurant called Bess Bistro, and the other is called Walton’s Fancy and Staple. It’s a deli, but it’s also a bakery, and it’s also a florist.

Marshfield General Store

When the Marshfield Hills General Store in his home state of Massachusetts was going to close in 2009, Steve Carell stepped in. The shop first opened as a genuine general store back in 1853. The shop now stocks both modern grocery items and general store classics, such as penny candy. Carell’s sister-in-law runs the shop now, although he occasionally stops in to make popcorn.

Cabo Wabo

Sammy Hagar is most famous for being the second lead singer in Van Halen and also for owning his own tequila company, Cabo Wabo. But that’s just one of his side businesses. In the ’80s, he traveled so much that he found it was cheaper to open his own private travel agency, saving on fees. He’s also an avid bicyclist, and started Sausalito Cyclery, a bike shop in northern California.

BIRD Bakery

Armie Hammer was the lone ranger in The Lone Ranger, but he owns a bakery with his wife, journalist Elizabeth Chambers. BIRD Bakery is located in San Antonio, and they will make you a wedding cake.