Consumers spend a lot of time combing through retail stores’ catalogs for Black Friday deals, but sometimes its easy to forget the local mom-and-pop shop down the block.
In honor of small businesses across the country people will be celebrating the second annual Small Business Saturday, a day created to remember the local businesses and the people who had a dream to start their own store and are now living it out.
Small Business Saturday comes the day after Black Friday, and is dedicated to getting the word out to consumers to forget the giant retail stores for one day and head over to your local shop and pledge to “shop small.”
The U.S. Small Business Administration is also encouraging shoppers to help out local neighbors instead of waiting for Cyber Monday to come along. Said Karen Mills of the SBA, “Everyone knows that your dollar goes a long way at when you buy a product or service from a small business. That money goes right back into the local economy.”
In a message urging shoppers to support local businesses President Obama called local shops the “backbone of our economy and cornerstones of our Nation’s promise.”
“These businesses create two out of every three new jobs in America, helping spur economic development in communities across our country and giving millions of families and individuals the opportunity to achieve the American dream. Through events such as Small Business Saturday, we keep our local economies strong and help maintain an American economy that can compete and win in the 21st century.”
In the last two years there has also been a push to educate small businesses on how to market without spending a lot of money. The website, smallbussinesssaturday.com, advises businesses to use social media and tell their stories through videos to get their message out.
