The CAMEO staff works day in and day out to advocate for the resources that make small businesses successful. We think every day is Small Business Day. But we’re thrilled when someone else joins in the call to promote our local small businesses. This Saturday has been designated Small Business Saturday. It started with a promotional campaign by American Express, but it’s grown beyond that and taken on a life of it’s own. Individual groups and localities are taking it upon themselves to celebrate.
On Saturday, I am excited to visit The Wine Mine in Oakland to taste holiday wines and then shop for ceramics at The Spanish Table in Berkeley. Where are you going to shop?
Last year over 95 million consumers shopped at small businesses on Small Business Saturday, which was an 8 percent increase from 2014. Total spending among U.S. consumers who were aware of Small Business Saturday reached $16.2 billion, an increase of 14 percent from $14.3 billion in 2014. That’s the power of small!
Why small and local? Here’s a list of five good reasons.
- Small Reduces Inequality: the increasing size of corporations is driving inequality, while local and dispersed business ownership strengthens the middle class.
- Higher Economic Returns for Local Economies: Local businesses recirculate a greater share of every dollar in the local economy, as they create locally owned supply chains and invest in their employees.
- More Jobs: Locally owned businesses employ more people per unit of sales, and retain more employees during economic downturns, while big-box retailers decrease the number of retail jobs in a region.
- Better Wages and Benefits: Locally owned businesses are linked to higher income growth and lower levels of poverty, while big-box retailers, particularly Walmart, depress wages and benefits for retail employees.
- Save on Public Subsidies: Public subsidies that overwhelmingly favor big businesses and have financed their expansion, and how this subsidized development has failed to produce real economic benefits for communities.
If you tweet or post on Facebook you can use the following posts (mention your favorite small business too) and make sure you use an imagea.
Nov 26 is #SmallBizSat and we want small businesses everywhere to feel the love when customers #ShopSmall with them.
Nov 26 is #SmallBizSat and we want to see people everywhere #ShopSmall and show love for small businesses.
You can show your love for small businesses, by downloading – Show Your Love For Small Business Heart. Hang it up in your offices and give it to customers or employees.
And a couple of local efforts.
If you’re in San Francisco, the Buy Local group launched a social media campaign encouraging people to shop locally in San Francisco. This city wide campaign will be featured on Facebook and Instagram, promoting users to take selfies in front of the small businesses they shop, and upload those photos to their social media with #ShopLocalSF. Shop Local stickers will also be made available to businesses to hand out to shoppers. You can take a pledge to shop local for the holiday season,
You can check out Accion’s Shop Small Business Marketplace, that showcases clients from around the U.S., including from Southern California, who have amazing products to offer. If you are in SoCal and want to shop loca, check out these Accion clients:
Imperial County
Riverside County
San Diego County
San Bernardino County
#ShopSmall !!!!!!!