Shopping Small Business Saturday can help boost business through next year

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — The trifecta for holiday shoppers is almost here: Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday are all just days away.

The big box stores are offering big deals as usual, but as you’re shopping this holiday season, remember to shop local and shop small as much as you can. You’ll get a personal experience, find unique items and you’ll be putting money directly into your community.

The owners of Vault and Vine, a gift shop, florist, and café, are on pins and needles as we move into the official holiday shopping season.

“Nervous because for a lot of small businesses, Small Business Saturday is make or break for an entire year,” said Vault and Vine co-owner Diana Baye. “If we don’t do well during the holiday season, we don’t make it to January.”

So to draw shoppers in, small businesses are offering deals.

“We’re offering double loyalty on Small Business Saturday,” said Baye.

That means 10% back on your purchase that you can spend any time. Plus, you get unique items, many of them handmade, you can’t find anyplace else.

“Three-quarters of all retail businesses in Center City are independent. They don’t have locations in other cities. They’re not the brands that you would find at a mall,” said Clint Randall, Vice President of Economic Development of the Center City District.

And to shop at a great cluster of small businesses, just head to Dilworth Park for the Made in Philadelphia Market.

“It’s called Made in Philadelphia for a reason, right? Every single vendor in that Dilworth Park market is a Philadelphia vendor. There’s, I think, about 50 of them,” said Randall. “A lot of them are already doing, you know, ‘Black Friday sales,’ which will then become, you know, a Small Business Saturday sale, and they’re there through the whole holiday season.”

Baye’s message to people who shop only at national big box chains?

“If everyone keeps doing that, that is going to be your only option. There will be no small businesses. There will be no variety,” she says.

And eventually, Baye warns, “Those low prices that you enjoy, eventually they go up because they’re the only game in town.”

And shoppers in Center City have their pick of stores to choose from. The Center City District says the number of retailers has increased 15% over the last five years and about 83% of all storefronts are occupied.