Big box stores across Iowa are packed with Black Friday shoppers today, but another effort is gaining momentum tomorrow — Small Business Saturday.
Pat Brown-Dixon, the regional administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration, says merchants who own and run their own shops are also eager to have your patronage.
She suggests making it a goal to only shop-local tomorrow.
“Small businesses are really easy to identify,” Brown-Dixon says. “You know which ones are small businesses and which ones are chains. We don’t have a thing against the chains. We just want you to put aside Saturday and make that small business shopping, just that one day.”
In addition to shopping at small businesses, she says to also set out to find locally-owned restaurants to “Dine Small” on Saturday, too.
“We’re talking a shot in the arm for our small businesses because they’re the ones that are hiring,” Brown-Dixon says. “Two out of every three new private jobs are from small businesses.”
Last year, nearly half of all consumers who knew about Small Business Saturday decided to act on it and spent nearly $5.7 billion dollars at local merchants nationwide.
The SBA website is offering all sorts of advice to help locally-owned merchants bring in shoppers on the special day.
“Make it kid-friendly,” Brown-Dixon says. “Maybe hold a contest, like a make-your-own ornament contest or a holiday coloring contest. Have an open house. Send out fliers with coupons. Maybe have a breakfast or a luncheon or give out free cookies.”
Across Iowa, the SBA says small businesses represent more than 96-percent of all employers and employ more than half of the state’s private-sector workforce.
Learn more at: www.sba.gov/SmallBusinessSaturday
