Shop small business on Saturday
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- Published on Tuesday, 20 November 2012 12:54
- Written by Paul Gordon
Small Business Saturday initiative continues to grow; area-wide collaboration lends support to the effort
Small Biz Saturday
We've had Black Friday for decades and Cyber Monday for many years now, but few initiatives have seen faster growth with meaning to more people than Small Business Saturday
Born in social media and in only its third year of existence it is an initiative that gets people moving and businesses energized as it encourages people to shop small businesses on the Saturday after Thanksgiving — on the business retail weekend of the year — to support the companies that provide most of the jobs in this country.
Small Business Saturday is this Saturday, Nov. 24, and Peoria area leaders have again banded together to support the initiative.
"Small businesses are the backbone of any community and Peoria is no different. Peoria, like all other communities, depends on small businesses to employ residents and to help grow the economy," Mayor Jim Ardis said Tuesday during a news conference at the Metro Centre in Peoria. "Small businesses provide jobs; 85 percent of new job generation comes from small businesses in any economy so these small businesses provide jobs for our friends and neighbors. It's our responsibility to support them."
Ardis further noted that more than half of all private sector jobs in the United States are provided by small businesses and that 98 percent of all business in the Peoria metropolitan area are considered small businesses. "For every $100 spent in locally owned independent stores more than half of it returns to the local economy through taxes, payroll and other expenditures," he said.
About two dozen regional partners are part of the local coalition to support Small Business Saturday, with those partners representing businesses and retailers and municipalities stretching from Pekin to Princeton, McLean County to Ottawa, said Anaise Berry, director of the Illinois River Road National Scenic Byway.
"There are two dozen regional partners on board helping promote the initiative including area Chambers of Commerce, economic development organizations, tourism groups, cities, counties and community groups. We are each promoting the program in our individual communities and to our members encouraging them to support the small businesses in their towns," she said at the news conference.
Joni Hunt, a city commissioner and director of tourism and marketing for the city of Princeton, noted that only 70 percent of new small businesses survive two year and that the percentage declines from there. Only a quarter of them are still in business after 15 years.
"We have to do our part to support them and initiatives like Small Business Saturday are a great way to do so," Hunt said.
Rob Parks, president of the Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce, said the growth of the Small Business Saturday initiative has been phenomenal, in part because drumming up support has not been difficult.
"In fact, it has been very easy to get people involved because they like to emphasize the uniqueness of small business," she said. "By including the various chambers of commerce in coordinating these kinds of efforts there gets to be a lot of support because the majority of our memberships are small businesses."
She noted that much of the Small Business Saturday campaign has been done on social media such as Facebook and Twitter. Last year the social media promotion of the event generated more than 2.6 million "likes" on Facebook and nearly 200,000 supportive tweets on Twitter.
"It is a great way to call attention to something that needs support, like small and unique companies. We encourage those companies to participate in Small Business Saturday and to offer something special to draw shoppers, like special discounts or just cider and cookies. Getting shoppers inside is the first step," Parks said.
Many people were asked by the local coordinators to sign pledge sheets promising to shop small on Saturday. Those who signed were given a $25 American Express gift card courtesy of the Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce.
The partner organizations in the local effort include the Chambers of Commerce in Canton, East Peoria, Lacon, McLean County, Ottawa Area, Pekin, Peoria Area, Peoria Heights, Princeton and Washington. Municipal and county governmental entities include Peoria, East Peoria, Pekin, Peoria County and Washington.
Tourism bureaus and offices include Peoria Area, Pekin Main Street and Princeton and the Illinois River Road National Scenic Byway. Metro Centre, with 47 stores and businesses, also is a partner.
Paul Gordon is editor of The Peorian. He can be reached at 692-7880 or editor@thepeorian.com
