Sandwiched between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Small Business Saturday has become another tradition of the Thanksgiving weekend. Launched in 2010, Small Business Saturday generated an estimated 112 million shoppers and $15.4 million is sales in 2016. As this year’s event approaches on November 25th, the University of Georgia’s Small Business Development Center is encouraging business owners to take advantage of the opportunity.
“For the shopper, frequently the small business in your community, you’re talking about maybe friends and neighbors,” according to SBDC state director Allan Adams. “Many small business owners are active in their community in a way large companies are not. They sponsor ball teams, they sponsor Scout troops and they are involved in the local civic clubs. Those business owners are a part of the community, and the money they bring in tends to stay circulating in the community.”
As a result, Adams says, their impact is felt beyond economics.
“Small firms, they are unique employers within our community, “They may give, particularly in a town like Athens; college students the opportunity to part-time job, which larger firm may not be able to, they’re oftentimes a source of retirement income and employment for people. And for many of us, that was our first work experience in a small firm.”
Georgia has more than 980,000 small businesses, which employ 44 percent of the state's private-sector workforce.
