LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV) - All the big name mega stores have been spending mega bucks in advertising their big sales for Black Friday, but what about those smaller stores in town? They certainly don't have the money to spend on those fancy commercials, so they rely a lot on word of mouth from their regular customers and the signage in their windows.
Now on Saturday, after all the Black Friday sales have ended, there's Small Business Saturday, and that's the day that small business locals hope you'll drop in and do some shopping. To tell you more about why shopping local is so important, Linda Nelson with the Arkansas branch of the Small Business Administration stopped by THV 11.
"Well, it's very important. There have been some studies...Remember 60/40... Every dollar that you spend with a locally owned business, 60 cents goes back into your community. For those [businesses] that have quarters outside the community, only give 40 cents," she explained. "So, you're helping your community. Also LSU did a study that communities that had a rich, diverse group of small businesses were actually healthier economically and physically."
Dawn Scott with THV 11 asked what some the advantages were for customers and shoppers who go to these businesses.
"For your small businesses, you have someone who is not very far removed from the owner or from the person who can make decisions, and solve whatever your problem might be whereas in a larger corporation, you may have to go through two or three levels of communications to get to a person who can make that decision....It's really about relationships," she said.
How do you find out which shops are having specials for this Saturday?
You can check on Social Media fan pages for your favorite businesses, or on www.sba.gov/saturday.
The Small Business Administration also has some small business marketing tools for business owners to use.