The holiday season is all about giving – and the best gift we can give local businesses is our support. especially on Small Business Saturday. After all, they support our community year after year by hiring workers from our small towns, giving to local charities, and contributing tax dollars to bettering our hometowns!
According to American Express, 68 cents of every dollar spent in a local business stays in the local community. That means improvements to our parks, schools, town centers, and main streets are largely courtesy of small businesses. To show appreciation for everything they do for us, why not shop local on Small Business Saturday?
Shop Local on Small Business Saturday
What is Small Business Saturday?
In 2010, American Express designated the Saturday after Thanksgiving as Small Business Saturday to encourage consumers to support shops in their communities. Back then, the goal was to bring money into local stores instead of large malls and big box stores, but today it’s even more important as Amazon and other online retailers have put small businesses in jeopardy. Yes, Black Friday and Cyber Monday offer great deals, but making a mindful effort to spend money at small businesses on Saturday brings revenue to our local friends and neighbors.
How Important is Shopping Small?
While we don’t have specific numbers for local area businesses, according to the National Retail Federation, the 51 million shoppers who participated in Small Business Saturday in 2021 spent $23.3 billion. And that was just shortly after the pandemic. Last year brought in more, and there’s a good chance that, now that everything is opened back up, 2023 could bring in more revenue than ever. Imagine how an extra rush of sales will help our local business owners this year, and consider these other benefits of shopping small:
- Small businesses donate 250% more than larger businesses to non-profits and community causes (Source: Seattle Good Business Network).
- Small businesses have generated 12.9 million net new jobs over the past 25 years, accounting for two out of every three jobs added to the economy (Source: Advocacy’s fact sheet Small Business Job Creation).
- For every $100 spent at a local business, $68 stays local. At a large business, only $43 would stay in the community. (Source: American Express)
As a local business ourselves, HTC is happy to support the small business owners in our small towns. On November 25, we plan to grab a coffee at a local café, eat lunch at a local bar and grill, and shop at local gift shops and boutiques. Whether you live in Waterloo, Columbia, Red Bud, Valmeyer, Dupo, or any other of our great communities, we hope you’ll do the same. Happy Thanksgiving, and Happy Small Business Saturday Shopping from all of us at HTC!
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