Contributed by Jeanette Gardiner
Small Business Saturday
11/26/2016 – All Day
American Express
Downtown Palmer
FREE Admission
I don’t know about you, but I really like my sleep.
And waking in the middle of the night, or worse, staying up all night just to get in line for this year’s “must have” gift on Black Friday just doesn’t appeal to me.
So instead, I’ll be heading to Palmer with many of my friends and neighbors for Small Business Saturday, November 26th, where we’ll invest in our community by supporting our unique and friendly hometown businesses.
I appreciate shopping where the business owner knows me by name and takes the time to help me select just the right gift. And I know without a doubt that they genuinely appreciate that I shopped with them.
Small Business Saturday® was founded by American Express® in 2010, and is a day to celebrate the small businesses that help support their neighborhoods. It’s held every year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving and is embraced as part of the holiday shopping tradition. Each year shoppers, businesses and public officials come together to Shop Small® and show their neighborhood pride.
Why Shop Small?
According to the American Independent Business Alliance, when you choose local and independent businesses for your services, shopping, dining and other needs, you not only get real value and personal service, but you’re helping:
• Build Community - The casual encounters you enjoy at neighborhood–scale businesses and the public spaces around them build relationships and community cohesiveness. They’re the ultimate social networking sites!
• Strengthen Your Local Economy - Each dollar you spend at independent businesses returns three times more money to your local economy than one spent at a chain (hundreds of times more than buying from an online mega-retailer) - a benefit we all can bank on.
• Create Jobs And Opportunities - Not only do independent businesses employ more people directly per dollar of revenue, they also are the customers of local printers, accountants, wholesalers, farms, attorneys, etc., expanding opportunities for local entrepreneurs.
• Give Back To Your Community - Small businesses donate more than twice as much per sales dollar to local non-profits, events, and teams compared to big businesses.
In Palmer, over twenty independently-owned businesses are participating in Small Business Saturday – Palmer. Visit our Facebook event page at goo.gl/uMyTQN to see the list of businesses and what they have planned for the day.
This holiday season, join your family, friends and neighbors on Small Business Saturday, November 26th and invest in your community by supporting the businesses that help make Palmer the best place to live, work and play in Alaska.
About Jeanette Gardiner
Jeanette Gardiner lives in Palmer, Alaska, and is the owner of SeaStar Strategies LLC where she helps small business owners discover the gift of time by streamlining their administrative and marketing systems. She is also Palmer’s “Neighborhood Champion” for Small Business Saturday 2016. Learn more at www.seastarstrategies.com.