News Staff Report
This Saturday, November 28, recognized the world over as Small Business Saturday is a shopping holiday held annually on the Saturday after Thanksgiving in the United States, one of the busiest shopping periods of the year.
The special “shop small” period was created by American Express and was first observed in the United States on November 27, 2010. It is a counterpart to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, which feature big box retail and e-commerce stores respectively.
By contrast, Small Business Saturday encourages holiday shoppers to patronize brick and mortar businesses that are small and local.
Small businesses are at the core of every successful neighborhood, and Small Business Saturday is designed to encourage people to bring more holiday shopping to small businesses.
Supporting local businesses is especially important this year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic that has kept people inside and caused an increase in online shopping.
According to a recent study, 62 percent of U.S. small businesses reported that they need to see consumer spending return to pre-COVID levels by the end of 2020 in order to stay in business.
Residents of Atmore and the surrounding area are encouraged to do their Christmas and other holiday shopping at local shops and stores as much as possible.