Page 8 The Skanner Portland & Seattle November 21, 2018
News
Small Businesses Band Together for Small Business Saturday
STEPHANIE ZOLLSHAN/THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE VIA AP, FILE
About 200 Portland businesses will join in a marketing effort called Shop Little Boxes
In this Nov. 29, 2014, file photo, shoppers form a long line at checkout during Small Business Saturday at the Arcadian Shop in Lenox, Mass.
Many small and independent retailers who are holding Small Business Saturday shopping events Thanksgiving weekend are banding together
with others, believing that there’s strength in numbers.
By Joyce m. Rosenberg
AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) —
Many small and inde-
pendent retailers who
are holding Small Busi-
ness Saturday shopping
events
Thanksgiving
weekend are banding
together with others,
believing that there’s
strength in numbers.
Small Business Satur-
day, started in 2010 to
encourage consumers to
shop in their small local
stores rather than na-
tional chains and what
are called big box stores,
has become an event in
neighborhoods, towns,
even cities as retailers
recognize they can draw
more customers as a co-
hesive group than by of-
fering discounts and pro-
motions on their own.
Mama Java Coffee, an
online coffee retailer, is
joining with seven other
online businesses that
cater to mothers to of-
fer a joint discount. A
shopper spending $40 at
any of the companies on
Small Business Saturday
will get $10 off purchases
at the other seven. Kim
Roman, owner of Mama
Java Coffee, says the
group, which will market
the event on Instagram
and other social media,
came up with the idea
just a few weeks ago.
“We were chatting
about ways to be unique
and help promote each
other,” she says.
Many
communal
Small Business Saturday
events have grown to
the point where they’re
organized by local cham-
bers of commerce and
community business or-
ganizations that have big
marketing budgets.
About 200 indie retail-
ers throughout Portland
are banding together in
a marketing effort called
Shop Little Boxes that
will run from Friday
through Sunday. The
stores are offering dis-
counts, many of them 10
percent, and shoppers
get raffle ticket numbers
for each visit and pur-
“
dren. Parents may not
be able to do much shop-
ping during such events,
but owners say they do
return to shop after the
party is over.
Landlords also sponsor
Small Business Saturday
events at their develop-
ments. Pier Village, a res-
idential complex in Long
Branch, New Jersey, has
about 30 retail tenants,
and many will be tak-
About 200 indie retailers
throughout Portland are
banding together in a mar-
keting effort called Shop Lit-
tle Boxes that will run from
Friday through Sunday
chase they make. Shop
Little Boxes has a smart-
phone app that shoppers
can use to find partici-
pating stores and to reg-
ister their raffle ticket
numbers.
Retailers say they do
see sales blip up during
Small Business Saturday,
but their aim is also to re-
mind shoppers that they
are there year-round.
The event in Hender-
son, Nevada, like many
others, is aimed at fos-
tering goodwill; Shop
Small Henderson will be
a five-hour block party
with activities for chil-
ing part in a communal
Small Business Saturday
event.
Some of the events
aim at giving craft mak-
ers and artisans a place
to sell their creations;
about a dozen craft mak-
ers will take part in a
pop-up event at Broad-
way Market, a retail com-
plex in Seattle. And some
companies with surplus
space are inviting small
vendors to set up shop
on their premises — in
Elmhurst, Illinois, Brew-
point Coffee is hosting
small retailers in its
roastery.
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