Small Business Saturday a boom to local shops this weekend
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Are you shopped out yet?
Experts say not likely. Small Business Saturday, according to one survey, is more popular than Black Friday, and that's good news for our many neighborhood stores that urge you to shop local.
"Small Business Saturday is popular because there's this patriotic and civic duty associated with supporting local businesses and maybe rounding up some friends and family and hitting the stores," says Ted Rossman, senior industry analyst for Bankrate.com that conducts surveys of consumers.
The latest survey found Small Business Saturday second to Cyber Monday and leading Black Friday in popularity.
Christie Neff, who owns Twelve Whiskey BBQ on East Carson Street in Southside, hopes that's true this Saturday because Southside, she says, has recovered from a crime hit earlier this year.
"The things implemented with the police and the administration are happening. So, it's really not – don't think back to six months ago. Southside is back to where it used to be," says Neff.
Neff, like most local small business owners, says shopping local "supports families, people's children, kids, and my family."
That's true for Lea Bickerton who owns the Tiny Bookstore in the North Hills and says local independent stores give better customer service.
"That personal touch, that ability to have someone come in and say, there's a book I saw a few years ago. It has a purple cover and a woman on the back, on the front of it walking away – that's something an experienced bookseller will be able to track that down for you," says Bickerton.
"If you're in the mood for a particular book, we can offer personalized recommendations."
Another way to support local businesses, says George Cook, co-founder of Honeycomb Credit, is to invest in them through the Pittsburgh-based crowd-funding website, honeycombcredit.com.
"We want to help people start to invest local, to put a little bit of local in their portfolio and think about not just investing on Wall Street but also investing on Main Street," says Cook.
It's a clever idea. If you can't get out to spend a hundred bucks at local stores on Small Business Saturday, invest that money online with a local start-up company instead.
Again, Small Business Saturday is all about keeping your money in the neighborhood.