The day after Thanksgiving, shoppers come out in droves for Black Friday, a sales event for big box retail stores. And that following Monday, e-commerce stores try to draw customers in with deals online. Nestled between the two lies Small Business Saturday, and hundreds of local shops will participate.
Six years ago, American Express created Small Business Saturday. Locally, Wilmington Downtown Inc. has been selected as a champion partner for the shopping event. WDI President Ed Wolverton says supporting small businesses helps to invigorate the entire local economy:
"Downtown is fortunate in that we have over 180 small businesses that are part of our downtown scene here. So, most of those businesses are going to be part of Small Business Saturday. And we even were able to work with our city to provide free on-street parking on Saturday as well. So right now, parking is always free on the street on holidays and on Sundays, so by adding in Small Business Saturday this year, we’ll have four consecutive days of on-street parking to make it easier for customers to visit downtown."
Wolverton says customers will find a wide array of options downtown, including some new shops:
"Redix is, of course, a very recognizable name brand for this area. They’ve just opened recently on Grace Street. Outdoor Equipped is right next to Redix. And across from them is Coastal Urge, who’s a small regional chain, but we’ve had an array of other places open like the Cape Fear Spice Merchant, Art in Bloom Gallery, Blokes, which is a men’s store over on Princess Street. So we’ve had a great run of new shops open in downtown recently, and this will be a great way for people to rediscover what they have."
WDI also has a holiday shopping guide available on their website.