HURRICANE, W.Va. — Small business owners in West Virginia’s cities and towns are looking forward to Small Business Saturday.
In Hurricane, the community can join local artisans, makers and small businesses starting at 9 a.m. on Main Street.
Hurricane’s Mayor Scott Edwards says that the town tries to embrace their small businesses.
“We love the downtown area, we love all our small businesses, and as you know we promote our small businesses year-round; we want people to shop local, shop small all the time but especially this Saturday,” Edwards said. “This Saturday is huge, this can get them over the hump, it can really help them have a good year.”
Mainstreet Morgantown will host what is being called ‘Small Business Saturday 2024: A Celebration of Small & Local’ on High Street starting at 11 a.m.
Executive Director for Main Street Morgantown Erik Carlson encourages Morgantown area residents to stop by, where there will be opportunities to take advantage of great deals while supporting the local economy.
“In downtown starting at 11 o’clock, you’ll have your opportunity to get your picture with Santa Claus, from there you’ve got dozens of our local retailers not only being open but offering special discounts,” said Carlson. “Including special incentives to make sure to go ahead and capture your business for the holiday season.”
Edwards said that there will be a lot of small businesses in downtown Hurricane for people to visit. Two of those stores are Bear Wood Company located at 2733 Main Street and Heritage Company located at 207 Midland Trail.
He says that they both make incredible wood pieces.
“I’ll tell you what, they both make handmade, wood products, a lot of its local wood, right here from West Virginia,” Edwards said. “They both make awesome products, I shop at both shops, they’re phenomenal.”
Morgantown residents will be able to enjoy over a dozen small businesses, who will open their doors an hour before the festivities begin. To entice shoppers, each business plans to do their own unique promotions that range from free gifts and bonus items for making large purchases to discounts that will only take place on Saturday. The businesses open will offer a variation of locally crafted goods along with unique handmade items from local artisans.
“Cool Ridge is offering ten percent off any purchase over thirty dollars, and Hoot and Howl is offering a free goody bag with a branded tote or tea for the first 20 customers who spend 75 dollars or more and Short Cutz barber shop is offering any free haircut or beard trim on Small Business Saturday, and that’s just a small sampling,” Carlson said.
Edwards says that it’s important to support small businesses because most of them are home based businesses.
“A lot of them are home based, are small have three, four, five and six employees. We need to support those businesses every single day, but really, we need to make an impact this Saturday,” Edwards said.
Carlson added that there will also be free community activities that will be hosted by the Monongalia County Courthouse Square. There will be photo opportunities with Santa Claus on the square along with free cookies and hot chocolate, which will be taken inside of the Ward Building in the event of inclement weather.
There will also be close to a dozen independent vendors who will offer a variation of vintage goods, homemade crafts, and pieces of art.
“We’ll have that at courthouse square, thanks to our friends over at Hotel Morgan,” said Carlson. “If you’re wanting to go see Santa or just do a little walk-by and grab a cookie or hot chocolate, they’ll have that for you there along with Santa Claus and all of his jolly spirit.”
While shops around downtown Morgantown are expected to host their respective promotions throughout Small Business Saturday, they will also maintain holiday shopping hours in the weeks ahead of Christmas. This will allow for shoppers to have the opportunity to buy a unique item regardless of their work schedule.
With all the proceeds directly benefiting the local economy, Carlson encourages Morgantown area residents to come on down to High Street and see what downtown Morgantown businesses have to offer.
“If you really want something that special that means something, we have that here in Morgantown,” Carlson said. “We have it from local artisans, we have it from local artists, just so many opportunities to have great thoughtful gifts.”
Edwards said that while Small Business Saturday is to support this business, he said that the support will go beyond just this one day.
Local businesses got together and decided that they will all be open for their Shop and Eat Event on Main Street Dec. 12.
“Everybody’s going to be open 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., it’s just another special night to shop local,” Edwards said.
On Saturday, Morgantown’s festivities will conclude at 4 p.m. with Hurricane festivities going until 5 p.m.
This post was originally published on here
