Small Business Saturday Boosts Local Economy

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – If you can’t handle the Black Friday madness, then Small Business Saturday may be more your speed. This is the day where you’re encouraged to shop small and support local merchants.

Dot Ridley always dreamed of owning her own business. Her store Dot’s Forget Me Knots in downtown Macon has been in businesses for 10 years, all thanks to local people shopping small.

“You just need to come and see what we have to offer. There’s a lot of good things down here,” Ridley said. “You’re missing out if you don’t come down to see.”

You don’t want to miss what local businesses have in store. That is what Small Business Saturday is all about. Main Street Macon manager Mechel McKinley says it is a day for everyone to come out and shop small.

“Those businesses put more money into the local economy,” McKinley said. “They do it faster and they are employing local people.”

From the business owners who create jobs, to the customers who buy locally—it is a cycle that supports our economy and keeps our community thriving.

“Eighty percent of the jobs created in this country are created by small businesses and so supporting these local merchants is so important,” McKinley said.

It’s not just the shops participating. Restaurants, like Lemongrass, are joining in on the action. It is offering a discount to anyone who brings in a receipt from a local business on Saturday.

“We’re hoping to encourage [everyone] to shop local and support their local businesses and independent artists,” Lemongrass manager Amber Pierce said. “You’re going to spend your holiday money anyway so you might as well spend it doing something that’s going to make a really big impact.”

Many of the downtown businesses participating in Small Business Saturday are offering discounts, door prices, and they’re staying open late.