The holiday season is around the corner, and small businesses everywhere have been pivoting to serve a post-COVID shopping landscape. As consumers are poised to return to brick-and-mortar stores in force this holiday selling season, local mom-and-pop shops, restaurants and service providers can maximize the opportunity by participating in Small Business Saturday.
Small Business Saturday, which takes place on Nov. 27 this year, encourages consumers to support local businesses by shopping small. American Express launched this shopping holiday in 2010, at the height of the Great Recession, as a way of redirecting holiday shopping to local stores. A decade later, it’s observed in all 50 states, and in 2011, the Senate passed a resolution recognizing Small Business Saturday.
Consumers have been more than eager to jump on board and support their local small business community. Last year, the U.S. Small Business Administration reported Americans spent nearly $20 billion on Small Business Saturday, and in the years before that, consumers spent a cumulative $100 billion-plus on this shopping holiday.
