Did you do it? Did you shop in your local small businesses last Saturday in support of Small Business Saturday?
I did. And Mr. Barack Obama sure did.
And so did some 89 million more of you nationwide, who happily sandwiched another token day in between Black Friday (which, according to the National Retail Federation, was up 16% from last year with sales over the weekend hitting $52.4bn,) and Cyber Monday.
This promotion, formally sponsored and launched by American Express, started last year and generated an estimated 28 percent uptick in sales, according to AmEx. This year the Facebook likes for Small Business Saturday have grown from 1.5 million last year to 2.7 million this year.
And to what end? Why is shopping at our local small businesses so important, you might be wondering? One of the strongest arguments, I think, for shopping local was recently reported in the Economist, where a handful of researchers were looking at the strong local shopping movement in Austin, TX. There, they found that for every $100 spent at an Austin-owned store, $45 stayed in the local economy, compared to $13 spent at a chain like Borders. Hey, that sounds pretty good to me.
But more than a scientific study to point out to me why I should shop locally, I did it because I come from a family of small business owner/operators: my Mom owns a children’s clothing and home gift boutique in Boulder, CO and my Dad has owned and operated his own medical device service and distribution business for the last 25 years.
I get what local small business means. It means that my parents have jobs, and employ others. It means that I always got to go to sleep in a warm bed and then get up and go to school with food in my belly every morning. It means that I got to actively participate in school, sports, piano lessons, swim team. And it means that my Father could help pay for my undergraduate education, so that I could go on to pay for my own graduate education, and get my own good job, pay my own bills and taxes and insurance… and on and on and on and on.
What it comes down to is that small business means jobs. In fact, 65% of all new jobs over the last 17 years were created in small businesses in the US. And small business means income; I’ll also point out that 44% of the total private sector payroll (and benefits, etc) come from our small businesses.*
So while I was home over the weekend, I spent Saturday shopping at my Mom’s store for all of the baby gifts that have been accumulating on my to-do list. It felt really good to shop there. I felt really proud to shop there.
I hope that you too will find your reasons to support local small businesses this (and every!) holiday (and non-holiday!) season.
Happy holidays. Happy days.
-Kendra, Business Advising