Love a Local on Saturday Nov. 26!

Shop happy, shop small, and show some love to your local economy.

American Express and a fleet of other corporations and government groups (see the full list on the website) are promoting the idea that on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, we should all spend some of our money and time supporting locally owned businesses.  Through advertising on facebook, on radio, and even on TV, the idea of Small Business Saturday is taking hold.  Word of mouth is passing the idea along and twitter is abuzz.

To officially participate, a business needs to accept American Express cards.  While the Happy Up stores don't take American Express, many of the small businesses in our area that we love (and bet you do, too) are participating.  So we're delighted to add our voice to the growing chorus and hope y'all aren't totally shopped out yet.

Save some of that energy for tomorrow.  Stop in your favorite locally owned, totally unique, favorite, fabulous, and festive small business.  Buy yourself a treat, or find something to give as a gift.

By shopping with locally owned businesses, the majority of your money *stays* in the community.  It helps support your schools, repair your roads, and is spent at other businesses.  It creates jobs, it keeps our shopping areas vibrant and interesting, and it's sooo much more fun!

Don't think you can make it to a locally owned store on Saturday?  No problemo.  You can have the same impact on your local economy if you roll with the 3/50 Project.  Super simple:  Pick three locally owned businesses.  Spend $50 at those three businesses, and the impact is massive. 

Most of the money spent at the big box stores vanishes and isn't reinvested in your community.  Money spent at the big boys on the internet never returns to your community, not even in the form of sales tax.

So love a local and love your community!

Love Your Local - Shop Small on Nov. 27

Everyone knows all about Black Friday--  Or they think they do.  News reports every year announce the traffic jams at malls. People line up hours or days in advance at Big Box stores for insane sale prices.  You hear over and over about how it’s the day retailers will start to show a profit.

It’s a little different for small businesses.  That’s not really the picture of what’s going on for many of the mom & pop shops around our nation.  For many of them, the day after Thanksgiving is a finish line (whew!  Made it to the Holiday shopping season) and the start of a marathon (egads!  It’s the Holiday shopping season!).  Black Friday represents the moment when all the work and effort and striving of the past year starts to pay off.  You see that new customer come back.  You get to chat with your favorite customers--  the ones who bought baby toys a few years ago and now need something for a teen.  You “rescue” someone by having the absolutely perfect thing for that hard-to-pick-for person on their list.  The Holiday shopping season is the pay-off for those slow as molasses, dog-days of summer.

Of course, none of this means anything if you, the consumer, doesn’t show up.

Do we want you to stop shopping with the Big Box stores?  No, although we wouldn’t mind if you did it a little less.
Do we want you to stop ordering things online?  Not at all.  We want you buying from our website, too!

Do we want you to consciously consider what makes your community unique, what makes it special, what makes it your home?  Yes.

We’re betting some part of what makes your town, city, or neighborhood a dear, treasured place to you is a small business.  Maybe it’s a coffee shop.  Maybe it’s a (ahem) toy store like  us.  Maybe its a gift shop or bakery or bookstore.  Whatever that little store is, you know they’ll always come through for you--  you’ll be greeted with a smile and you know you matter.  With this in mind, consider how you want to spend your Holiday budget.  

Now that you’ve thought about where and how you want to spend your money, think about when you’ll spend it.  American Express, as part of their “Open” Small Business Network, is encouraging communities around the country to declare the Saturday after Thanksgiving “Small Business Saturday.”  As part of this declaration, they’re asking consumers to make a point of spending some money at a small business on Nov. 27.  You can read more about Small Business Saturday on their website and facebook page.

Shop Small.  And watch what big things can happen.