Local shops prepare for Small Business Saturday

“So whenever Loudouners head out or go online to do their holiday shopping, buying local is always the right choice”, Howard said in a statement.

Past year consumers spent 14.3 billion dollars at local independent businesses on Small Business Saturday, and that has a significant impact on local economies.

Small Business Saturday has become a fixture of the frenzied holiday shopping season.

While the emphasis is on revitalizing the downtown shopping district and attracting more people who may not have shopped downtown in a while, Small Business Saturday is also created to boost other Kenosha County businesses as well.

Launched in 2010 by American Express, SBS shines the spotlight on small businesses across the nation. Eating at a local restaurant like Dreamland BBQ keeps money and jobs within the community. As Mayor Heuther says, small businesses are the foundation of the retail and economy of South Dakota.

“You get to see where your money goes”.

“We’ll have donuts and some refreshments and we’ll have 10% discount store wide tomorrow”, said one of Lucky Tiger’s owners, Amy Heath.

For shoppers, like Froelich, to show their appreciation for small businesses, many will flock to the local shops on Saturday.

“Small businesses are huge for GLI and our region”.

People everywhere shopped until they dropped at big-box stores on Black Friday.

“A lot of the businesses band together and we kind of make sure the word gets out to everyone around town as much as possible”.

Nationally, shoppers spent nearly $14B at locally owned businesses on Small Business Saturday, which is an almost 2% increase from the previous year.

American Express has a Shop Small tool that lists all local businesses in the area.