While today’s Black Friday sales are drawing droves of shoppers, Iowa’s small business owners are rallying customers to support them, too, especially tomorrow on Small Business Saturday.
Brad Zaun, the regional administrator for the U.S. Small Business Administration, says many merchants are facing a tight financial squeeze this year and they’ll be eager to make sales. Zaun says he’s urging his Iowa staff to seek out local merchants and support them directly.
“This is very personal to me because I had a hardware store for 18 years in Urbandale,” Zaun says. “I always celebrated the Saturday after Thanksgiving because we know what happens on Friday. I think it’s really important and have been involved with the local chamber and Urbandale really promoting to buy local.”
He says strong sales during the last several weeks of the year could make a huge difference in the bottom line for many Iowa businesses. Zaun encourages all Iowans to get back out tomorrow and be a booster for Small Business Saturday.
“I think it’s very vital,” Zaun says. “It seems like there’s been trends of more buying online, buying from the big box stores, which ultimately has an effect on the small businesses.”
Zaun says Iowa has 290,000 small businesses, which encompasses 99.3-percent of the state’s businesses. Economic forecasts call for sales to only be up two-percent for the holiday season, versus four-percent last year, while the average consumer plans to spend just under $1,600 on holiday gits, a ten-percent drop from last year. For many businesses, Zaun says December is make-or-break time.
“One thing that small businesses have is you can talk to the owner. You can talk to people. You’ve got a higher level of service,” Zaun says. “And I think that once they find their niche, then there’s certain things that you can’t purchase online or at the big box stores that always the small independent businesses are able to provide.”
As the SBA’s regional administrator, the Des Moines-based Zaun oversees agency offices in Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri and Kansas. He’s a former Iowa state senator, Urbandale mayor, and small business owner.