VISIT LOCAL SMALL BUSINESSES FOR HOLIDAY SHOPPING
Be sure to visit you local merchants today for Small Business Saturday Shopping. You will find those unique gifts that eluded you when you were fighting off the crowds on Black Friday in the huge department stores!
New England is full of beautiful villages and local “downtown” areas where you will find fabulous gift ideas and some fantastic business owners. Drop by the local cafe` for a snack, that fabulous bakery for those homemade donuts and breads or grab dinner at that small seafood place you have always told yourself you would visit. Looking for that unique, one-of-a-kind piece of jewelry for someone special? Ask your local merchant not the high cost jewelry chain store who mass-produce a piece which they tell you is “made for you alone.”
How about that gorgeous scarf made from wool on a Vermont farm and not from some country you cannot spell or pronounce.
When you patronize a small business, you will find outstanding customer service from associates who know each product and who are also friendly, gracious and appreciative of your business. Plus, chances are you will find someone you actually know who works at the small business, enjoys their job and is not there “just to make a dollar”!
Can’t do it this weekend? There are many more weekends ahead before Christmas……..
Many of the New England small businesses have been family owned for generations, specializing in making certain each customer is satisfied. The small business owner is not there just to make a quick sale or fill some quota set by three managers in a huge corporation who dictate whom to sell to, how to get the sale and get them out the door!
Your neighbor, best friend’s aunt or your fellow high school graduate has worked tirelessly to make their shop the sort of place in which you want to linger, a place where you will return to again.
Statistics from the SBA:
~ The 28 million small businesses in America account for 54% of all U.S. sales.
~ Small businesses provide 55% of all jobs and 66% of all net new jobs since the 1970s.
~ The 600,000 plus franchised small businesses in the U.S. account for 40% of all retail sales and provide jobs for some 8 million people.
~ The small business sector in America occupies 30-50% of all commercial space, an estimated 20-34 billion square feet.
