Small Business Saturday is no gimmick, local business owners said in interviews Friday.
American Express financial services created the event in 2010 to promote small, locally owned businesses. The day follows Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving and the traditional heavy shopping day for large retailers.
“Black Friday is when people go to the big-box stores for big items and Saturday is when they come to us for stocking stuffers, nice gifts for the teacher” and larger purchases of unique gifts, said Leigh Waycaster of Milk and Sugar Bath Co. on Emma Avenue in downtown Springdale.
Waycaster’s company won the national Handcrafted Soap and Cosmetic Guild’s top award in four categories — bath bombs, body scrubs, lotions and candles — in 2023 and again in 2024.
Related events like Christmas on the Creek celebration in downtown Springdale bring in foot traffic and shoppers, said Waycaster and fellow Emma Avenue business owners Dela Billingsley of Dela DeVille’s Vintage shop and Alyce Moore, who co-owns Gem Adventures Jewelers and Rock Shop with her husband, Scott Smith.
The effect of Saturday’s business lasts, Billingsley and Waycaster said. Both said in separate interviews that first-time customers at the Saturday event frequently become repeat customers online.
“We ship all over the world,” Billingsley said.
This long-term loyalty by customers accounts, in part, for why her walk-in and online sales are about 50/50 for her store, she said. Her store stocks vintage clothing and gifts dating from the 1920s to modern reproductions made using the original patterns.
Even stores like the jewelry and rock shop, which does steady business year-round and is not as dependent on holiday sales as others, benefits from the greater awareness coming from the Small Business Saturday promotion, Moore said. Her store sells stones, particularly polished stones, from all around the world: “Every continent but Africa,” she said. The store also sells fine jewelry, her and her husband’s main line of business before moving back to Arkansas to care for Moore’s elderly mother.
WORKING TOGETHER IN BENTONVILLE
Debbie Matteri, the owner of In Season in downtown Bentonville, said it’s been a record-breaking year for her business. The store sells candles, home decor, apparel and gift baskets. She also sells food made in Arkansas.
The business has been open since 1991, but has been in its present location since 2015.
Matteri said she believes people wanting that personal contact is one of the things that attracts them to small businesses.
Matteri communicates with her customers by email and social media to inform them of any specials. She said being in downtown Bentonville is also beneficial to her business.
“We all work together,” Matteri said of the downtown small businesses. “We are very close and help promote each other.”
Toni Patton, who owns Blue Moon Bentonville, another downtown Bentonville store, said it’s tough being a small-business owner because you are the one responsible for everything from the inventory to promoting the business on social media. She said she’s also there when one of her employees calls in sick.
“It’s tough trying to keep up with everything,” Patton said.
She said they have specials for the store, which sells women’s apparel.
It was a busy time in the store Friday with several people browsing and looking at merchandise.
Patton said it’s too early to compare it to last year, but she believes this will end up being a better year for her business, which has been open for three years.
Alan LeCuru of Jefferson City, Mo., was shopping in downtown Bentonville Friday. He believes it’s important to support small businesses, particularly because they are competing against big-box stores, and it’s also important to support the small businesses’ employees, he said.
FOOD AND MORE IN FAYETTEVILLE
People prepare large family meals during the holiday season, which means booming business for Ozark Natural Foods in Fayetteville, said general manager Dennis Hanley. Whatever any visitor’s dietary restrictions, preferences or requirements are, the store has the items and the staff to help find and prepare them.
“We have chefs on site,” Hanley said. “Our people are skilled professionals.”
The store offers foods from more than 100 local farmers and ranchers and sells freshly prepared foods in addition to groceries.
“One thing we do is always remember that we don’t know what everybody is going through during the holidays,” Hanley said. The season is not cheerful for everyone, he said. Whatever a customer needs, the staff will help, he said.
The Friday and Saturday of Thanksgiving week are intense for Block Street Records music store, said owner Wade Ogle. Record Store Black Friday started as its own event 20 years ago in an attempt to revive a then-declining business sector, he said. It succeeded, to the point the lines to his store wrapped around the block Friday.
“People can walk out of a record store with a $30 limited edition released for that day and immediately sell it for $100,” he said. The event builds bigger every year, he said.
Maggie Owens of Presley Paige party supply and gift shop in Fayetteville said she offers deeper discounts this time of year as a way of giving back to the community.
“I love Fayetteville,” she said. She lived in larger towns before and is glad to see Fayetteville going “all out for Christmas” like those larger cities do, she said.
“Big stores can afford to give deep discounts on Black Friday because their markups are so high, but our customers should get a break too,” she said. “It’s our way of giving something back to the community.”
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