The holiday shopping season is upon us! Shop small and avoid big-box stores by thinking and spending LOCAL on Main Street, the Marketplace, and shops along the Route 7 corridor in Ridgefield.
This SHOP LOCAL campaign is one that Ridgefield and HamletHub encourage 365 days a year! Local independent retailers are only able to keep their doors open when you open them! So, while we love that American Express has coined the Saturday after Thanksgiving "Small Business Saturday", we want to remind you to shop local always!
Here’s some good news for our local shops (news that will make the big box stores shutter): shopping small is big among consumers. A recent article that appeared in Bloomberg quotes Sarah Quinlan, senior vice president at credit-card giant Mastercard Inc., which tracks purchasing patterns. According to Quinlan, Spending growth at mom-and-pop businesses has outpaced that of the big chains in the past two years. What’s more, Quinlan says, “Americans are seeking more personal connections and advice -- something they can find lacking at national retailers.
And, according to the latest CNBC/SurveyMonkey Small Business Survey, released Friday, More than half of American households with an Amazon Prime membership will bundle up and head to their local mom-and-pop shops on Small Business Saturday.
American Express officially launched "Small Business Saturday" on the Saturday after Thanksgiving in 2010 with a mission to support hometown (and many home-grown) businesses. This “shop small” initiative has grown with gusto and American Express says small business owners generated an estimate of $15.4 billion dollars on Small Business Saturday in 2016.
American Express encourages shoppers to hashtag #ShopSmall on Twitter.
Learn more about how you can participate in the Shop Small movement at ShopSmall.com/About.
Make the season of local retailers MERRY by thinking small and shopping BIG.
*Image courtesy of Catherine Heller