Support local businesses and ‘shop small’ on Saturday

The big-box stores often dominate the shopping days around Thanksgiving and leading up to Christmas.

But there is a growing movement across the nation for consumers to reconsider and shop on Small Business Saturday, which is this weekend.

“When you compare the elbow-to-elbow shopping experience in big-box stores with small businesses, with them you get personal service, unique inventory and you help the business owners that support the hometown ball teams and band and all the local activities,” said Marci Penner, director of the Kansas Sampler Foundation near Inman, which helps promote rural culture.

Across Kansas, a sagging economy is dealing a blow to rural communities. That’s why, Penner said, small businesses are so important.

“It is the holiday season that keeps these stores alive,” she said. “It is not only fun to shop at these places, it really helps keep stores open in small towns.

“When you buy from a small business, the owners put the money back in the community. They live there, and that helps keep the towns going.”

And Small Business Saturday is not just for rural areas. Businesses across Wichita plan to participate with special events and deals.

In the Douglas Design District, a three-mile stretch along East Douglas, trolleys will take shoppers to participating businesses from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. There also will be food trucks, live music and special deals at some businesses.

And merchants in the Delano neighborhood are gearing up for a busy Saturday.

“It is a neat deal,” said Jack Kellogg, owner of Hatman Jack’s, at the corner of West Douglas and Sycamore. “We certainly offer specials. People come in.”

About 95 million shoppers participated in Small Business Saturday last year, up nearly 10 percent from the previous year.

Small Business Saturday, held on the Saturday following Thanksgiving, was started in 2010.

In the community of Lindsborg, shoppers will be rewarded with candy treat bags, horse-and-carriage rides, balloons, receptions in participating stores and a $1,000 Visa gift-card drawing.

Small Business Saturday “makes it another reason for us to reach out to people who may not know about the extra fun and experiences they get when they shop small,” said Kathy Richardson, owner of the Small World Gallery in Lindsborg. “It is amazing how many people make their life revolve around doing business with small businesses. … It is people we see every day and who we do business with every day.”

This story was originally published November 22, 2016 at 6:44 PM with the headline "Support local businesses and ‘shop small’ on Saturday."