Started as an antidote to the chaos known as Black Friday in 2010, Small Business Saturday falls on the Saturday after Thanksgiving (for 2015 it is November 28). Small Business Saturday offers shoppers and diners a pleasant respite from the big-box madness of the holiday shopping season, and encourages shoppers to think small when it comes to purchases for the season.
Small Business Saturday, started by the credit card company American Express, helps to boost local economies by encouraging patrons to support local, neighborhood stores and interact with their community. For many of the same reasons that shopping at the farmer’s markets lets you know where your food is coming from, ‘shopping small’ allows you to meet your local business owners and help keep small businesses alive in your community.
Shopping small this Saturday (and every day) can have a pretty big impact in your community. Here’s how:
1. More local money will be kept in the local economy: For every $100 you spend at locally owned businesses, $68 will stay in the community, according to a 2004 study byCivic Economics. But in comparison, if you spend $100 at a national chain, $43 stays in the community. Despite what some national chains would have you believe, big box stores are often quite bad for small businesses in communities, and many cities are starting to limit big-box stores.
2. You have a direct impact on job creation in your community: Even though big-box stores make big promises of job creation, the reality is that they often have a net decrease of jobs in the community and a net negative affect on thelocal economics due to the overall jobs decrease. A study reported by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance shows that across over 3,000 US counties, the opening of a Wal-Mart store led to a net loss of 150 retail jobs on average, suggesting that a new Wal-Mart job replaces approximately 1.4 workers at other stores.
3. Share the love of what makes your community unique: Unless you love the idea of a United States of Generica, supporting your local small cafes, handmade goods stores, hardware stores, and boutiques is the way to keep your community interesting and unique, and allowing it to become a destination for other shoppers. Local businesses keep local communities thriving, so take advantage of supporting your neighbors AND building your community’s growth! And don’t forget to ‘eat small‘ on Small Business Saturday too, by choosing locally-run eateries and supporting local food producers, farmers, brewers and makers.
4. You support innovation and entrepreneurship: Support the creative, individualistic, innovative artists, thinkers, and makers in your town by buying their wares. Starting a business is pretty difficult, and having the support of your local community can make or break a new business.
5. Nurture your Neighbors: Your local business owners are neighbors, friends, fellow shoppers, have kids in the same schools, and care about your community in the same way. Get to know them learn about their business, their life and grow a welcoming, supportive community in the process.
American Express has supported the campaign from the beginning, and continues to encourage shoppers to ‘shop small’ all year round, although it’s perhaps most important this time of year, as big-box stores fight among themselves to have the earliest opening hours, the longest sale, and even pre-Black Friday sales.
Small businesses don’t often have the marketing budget to compete with these stores, so Amex offers free Small Business Saturday marketing materials to brick-and-mortar (ie: not online) businesses, along with free listings in their ShopSmall.com listings, even if you’re not a Amex-accepting businesses (though you will have to register your name). Check out Small Business Saturday on Facebook to learn more.
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.
Taken from:
Keep it Local on Small Business Saturday + 5 Reasons to Support Local Businesses
