Sales associate Lindsay Purcell, center, shows watches to Courtney Cox, right, and her fiancee Kris McNally at Rone Regency Jeweler in Chattanooga. Small Business Saturday is a shopping day for local businesses that follows Thanksgiving and Black Friday.What is Small Business Saturday?American Express drummed up the "holiday" starting with the Saturday after Thanksgiving in 2010 as a way to encourage shoppers to support local and small businesses. It's the counterpart to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, which feature big-box retail and e-commerce shopping, respectively. The credit card company offers rebates to cardholders who buy from local businesses on that day, this year up to $30. For more information check shopsmall.com.Where to goYou can count on pretty much every store to be open today, many with sales and promotions. In addition, from 11 a.m to 4 p.m., Chattanooga Public Library will have an artisan craft fair featuring local talent who sell on Etsy.com.
If you've never caught word of Small Business Saturday, no one would be surprised.
It's marking only its fifth year today, conceived by credit card giant American Express to coax holiday shoppers into brick-and-mortar businesses that are local and small.
Plus, even many of the stores that take part in Main Street's counterpart to Black Friday don't promote the shopping day by mounting placards beneath their awnings or posting ads on their websites -- the onslaught typical of behemoth chains and big-box stores during the Thanksgiving weekend cash grab.
Still, those small-scale retailers count on sales they ring up the Saturday after Thanksgiving, whatever name that day takes on. More so, to hear them tell it, Saturday sales in general count a lot during holiday season and sometimes Black Friday can be as busy as so-called Small Business Saturday.
"Both days are big for us," said Terri Holley, who owns Embellish, an upscale shoe boutique in Chattanooga's Warehouse Row. "Black Friday, we do three times what we would normally do on a regular day. Some years, Saturday is bigger."
Embellish celebrates the Friday after Thanksgiving as its anniversary. It opened on Black Friday in 2005. So Holley has made a ritual of offering some sort of sale around the holiday -- but it could last longer than Thanksgiving weekend and is broadcast selectively. This year, for example, on the Tuesday night before Turkey Day, Embellish sent off an invitation to its email list of clients for a sale Wednesday through Monday.
According to the National Federation of Independent Business and American Express, shoppers who knew about Small Business Saturday reported spending $5.7 billion with independent merchants on the day in 2013. In 2012, that number was $5.5 billion. Meanwhile, the National Retail Federation predicted the entire Thanksgiving weekend would have a total of about $50 billion in retail sales -- from big-box to corner shop.
All money spent does not affect all economies equally. Numerous studies have shown that a far greater share of money spent at independently-owned local businesses stays in a community compared with money spent at large chains.
The heft of that fact has been enough for the White House to promote Small Business Saturday and, more generally, to expand lending to small businesses through the Small Business Administration.
For several years running, President Barack Obama has made a habit of shopping at local bookstores on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. This past week, the president put out a statement praising small business owners for being on "the front lines" when it comes to creating new jobs and opportunities.
"From shops and restaurants that showcase the talents of entrepreneurs to innovative companies that bolster local economies, small businesses define our neighborhoods and towns," President Obama said.
Black Friday has never tipped the sales scales for Rone Regency. "We don't do a lot of promotion-type giveaways like Best Buy," said owner Bob Mason.
But the Chattanooga jeweler has always posted good Saturday sales.
"That's a day people are off from work and shopping together," Mason said. The Saturday after Thanksgiving is a little busier than usual, with the pace picking up as the weeks move closer to Christmas, helped along by several events the jeweler has during December, such as trunk shows.
Ultimately holiday sales from November through December matter a lot; they account for 25 to 30 percent of the store's revenue for the year.
"All the money that's spent in our store stays in our city," Mason said.
Plus, Rone Regency, which opened in 1944, supports a good half dozen local charities.
Contact staff writer Mitra Malek at mmalek@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6406.