To Urge Local Shopping, America Celebrates 15th Annual 'Small Business Saturday' (sba.gov) 62
The New York Post writes that "After the COVID-19 pandemic upended mom-and-pops around the city and resulted in thousands shuttering for good, it is important — now more than ever — to shop local."
America's Small Business Administration issued their own statement urging shoppers to "champion small businesses nationwide and #ShopSmall on Saturday, linking to a site mapping small businesses in your area. (And there's also a directory listing online small businesses.) Small Business Saturday was founded by American Express in 2010 and officially cosponsored by the U.S. Small Business Administration since 2011. It is an important part of small businesses' busiest shopping season.
- In 2023, the reported projected spending in the U.S. from those who shopped at small businesses on Small Business Saturday was around $17 billion
- Since 2010, the total reported U.S. spending at small businesses during the annual Small Business Saturday is an estimated $201 billion
"Let's keep the Shop Small tradition going," urges the American Express web site — encouraging shoppers to also use the #ShopSmall hashtag on social media.
America's Small Business Administration issued their own statement urging shoppers to "champion small businesses nationwide and #ShopSmall on Saturday, linking to a site mapping small businesses in your area. (And there's also a directory listing online small businesses.) Small Business Saturday was founded by American Express in 2010 and officially cosponsored by the U.S. Small Business Administration since 2011. It is an important part of small businesses' busiest shopping season.
- In 2023, the reported projected spending in the U.S. from those who shopped at small businesses on Small Business Saturday was around $17 billion
- Since 2010, the total reported U.S. spending at small businesses during the annual Small Business Saturday is an estimated $201 billion
"Let's keep the Shop Small tradition going," urges the American Express web site — encouraging shoppers to also use the #ShopSmall hashtag on social media.
Re: (Score:2)
Exactly. And small businesses can feel even greedier than the big ones, with less service and worse prices.
Re: (Score:3)
*Citation needed
Re:Businesses (Score:5, Insightful)
What does "productivity" have to do with a local business? I'd rather buy some coffee beans from a local roaster instead of Starbucks. Plus it's nice to see downtown storefronts occupied by someone selling homemade soaps instead of payday loans or cell phone stores.
Re: (Score:1)
What does "productivity" have to do with a local business?
Why'd you ask for a citation if you don't care about it?
I'd rather buy some coffee beans from a local roaster instead of Starbucks.
That's nice, but the employees would earn more working for a bigger company, and the local roaster would be more profitable selling to a broader customer base.
Plus it's nice to see downtown storefronts occupied by someone selling homemade soaps instead of payday loans or cell phone stores.
That's nice but irrelevant. But the payday loan joint is just as much a local business as the soap shop.
Re: (Score:3)
The issue tends to be that people need certain basic stuff for day-to-day life, and there is immense financial pressure on that at the moment so while homemade soap may be better quality or better for the environment, it's a luxury that many cannot afford on a regular basis when there is a cheaper and almost as good alternative.
It's just another symptom of society moving towards people barely scraping by, living pay cheque to pay cheque, along with a falling birth rate and many other social problems.
Re:Businesses (Score:4, Interesting)
It's just another symptom of society moving towards people barely scraping by, living pay cheque to pay cheque
When were fewer people living paycheck to paycheck?
Please provide a specific date.
An objective measurement, such as hours worked to buy a week's groceries, has steadily improved for a century.
Are some people struggling? Sure. Is the problem getting worse? No.
Re: (Score:3)
Housing has never been more expensive, and even if some basic goods got cheaper it's not enough to offset the massive cost of keeping a roof over your head now.
Re: (Score:2)
Housing has never been more expensive
Housing is expensive in large urban areas but much less so in other areas.
Housing in those urban areas is expensive because of voter-supported restrictions on zoning and permitting that prohibit most new construction, not because of national macroeconomic policies.
Since the 1960s, the average new house in America has doubled in size, while the average household has declined from five people to three. So housing costs more in part because people are choosing to buy a lot more house.
Re: (Score:3)
Whatever the reason, it means people have less money to spend on local businesses.
Re: (Score:2)
Housing has never been more expensive, and even if some basic goods got cheaper it's not enough to offset the massive cost of keeping a roof over your head now.
I remember back in the early 80's when the biggest earner in the household was paying 100 percent of their income on thir mortgage, people were doing creative financing, and going "house poor".
If you didn't have both husband and wife working, you either went without or had to buy a fixer-upper.
So if a person goes unmarried today, no, they will miss out.
Gotta have two incomes for most people, unless one of them is quite wealthy The price for women deciding the most important thing in their life is a
Get gay or arranged married or married on paper to (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Good thing that more people can get married overall then. In support of two income households, one to pay the mortgage and insurance and taxes and the other to pay for the cars and groceries and clothes and pleasure. You're completely correct and factual.
Where this has become an issue is that marriage is not in the cards that much today. The projection is for almost half of women to be unmarried and childless by 2030.
Now this brings with it a problem - single people attempting to live in a world that now requires 2 incomes to maintain a preferred standard of living. Here is a page flexing about women's spending habits https://girlpowermarketing.com... [girlpowermarketing.com]
So given the spending habits of women compared to men, as usual, women most affected.
So given that m
Re: (Score:3)
What does "productivity" have to do with a local business? I'd rather buy some coffee beans from a local roaster instead of Starbucks. Plus it's nice to see downtown storefronts occupied by someone selling homemade soaps instead of payday loans or cell phone stores.
I try to buy local. But at some point it becomes a nuisance to hop in the car and play the look-for-it game. Then come back home and order what I need from Amazon. So I wasted gas, my time, and ended up doing what only took 30 seconds.
The worst thing is that eventually you just give up.
Re: (Score:2)
Depends what you mean by "local." If the items you need are local enough that you can walk, now you're not burning gas, not paying for parking, and you get your daily exercise to boot... so maybe you can save on a gym membership too?
I know, I know, it doesn't work for everyone, and it certainly doesn't work for 100% of the items we need. But my point is that there are often "hidden" savings that we tend to forget when we're griping about the fact that soap and toilet paper cost more from the small independe
Re: (Score:2)
That measures productivity by "USD per employed person," not by numbers of widgets sold or whatever.
In terms of "shop local," a more appropriate measure of productivity might be annual tax revenue per acre, where a big-box store ($8,350 per acre) produces less than a shopping mall ($22,000), a low-rise mixed-use building ($70,000-90,000), mid-rise mixed-use ($550,000-800,000) or 17-story mixed use ($1.01 million) [archive.org].
Re: (Score:2)
That measures productivity by "USD per employed person
No, it is "USD per hour worked", not per employee.
a more appropriate measure of productivity might be annual tax revenue per acre
That might be an interesting metric, but it is not "productivity".
Productivity = value produced per time unit of labor
a big-box store ($8,350 per acre) produces less than a shopping mall ($22,000), a low-rise mixed-use building ($70,000-90,000), mid-rise mixed-use ($550,000-800,000) or 17-story mixed use ($1.01 million) [archive.org].
So, if we shop local, 17-story skyscrapers will replace suburban sprawl?
Re: (Score:2)
Are you trolling? Your link specifically says it doesn't use hours worked, and the graphs say "Thousands of USD per employed person, 2011".
That's only one way to measure productivity. [wikipedia.org]
The way you skipped over the 3 shorter building types mentioned in my link tells me you are definitely trolling!
Re: (Score:2)
Firm size matters for productivity. Larger firms are on average more productive than smaller ones, particularly in the manufacturing sector
The shop locally idea has very little to do with manufacturing.
But their basic point that larger businesses are more profitable is no doubt true. The more profitable a business, the larger it grows. And unproductive, unprofitable businesses are likely to stay small. So when you compare the two populations, its likely the population of small businesses will include all the failures while the large businesses will include mostly successful businesses. But you are confusing cause and effect.
Re:Businesses (Score:5, Interesting)
In reality, small local businesses are less productive, worse for the environment, and if everyone shops local, at best, it's zero-sum
That isn't really true. Many small businesses provide unique products and levels of service that aren't scaled to industrial levels. That doesn't make them "less productive". Locally produced products almost always have a lower environmental footprint oompared to products mass-produced in China or Mexico. Or the United States for that matter. Shopping locally helps sustain diverse choices in the world by sustaining the market for diverse products.
Its true, you can get food more efficiently if its mass produced in factories and you choose from the very limited set of options that are optimized for the manufacturing process. But life is not about efficiency. And its not just food where industrial processes limit the choices offered. You can find all sorts of choices on Amazon, but they are almost all identical with the only difference the seller or the packaging. While I am sure there are unique products on Amazon, try finding them.
Re: (Score:3)
Productivity is rarely the reason to shop local - and yes, local small businesses are never going to be as efficient as mega-chains who have the advantage of huge volumes to optimize things.
When you have a huge company, small savings become big savings simply through sheer numbers
Re: (Score:3)
*As the guy who owns a small local bookstore -Thank you for shopping in the local bookstore!
The point of shopping local is the money stays local.
This is the key issue. Spending money in local stores allows us to employ your friends and neighbors -who then spend their income in other local shops employing more friends and neighbors... Shopping via large online retailers sends more of the money elsewhere -it supports those here-today-gone-tomorrow word-salad sellers shipping cheap crap from foreign countries where it is manufactured by what amounts to slave l
Re: (Score:2)
*As the guy who owns a small local bookstore -Thank you for shopping in the local bookstore!
The point of shopping local is the money stays local.
This is the key issue. Spending money in local stores allows us to employ your friends and neighbors -who then spend their income in other local shops employing more friends and neighbors... Shopping via large online retailers sends more of the money elsewhere -it supports those here-today-gone-tomorrow word-salad sellers shipping cheap crap from foreign countries where it is manufactured by what amounts to slave labor with no environmental restrictions.
Efficiency vs humanity. It is your choice. Put your money where your mouth is, if you care about such things.
Inspiring, but what does a person do when what they are looking for doesn't seem to exist locally? Example - last week, I needed some 3/8 by 24 bolts. It isn't a super common size bolt, but keeping some in stock hardly costs anything. No local M&P hardware, no Lowes, No Home Depot, no True Value. I even drove 40 miles to another store, They had a few, none long enough.
So I drove back home and ordered them from Amazon. In an interesting end to that story, I am now the biggest source of 2 inch 38/by 24
Re: (Score:2)
That is the kind of thing that one would expect to find at a local hardware store... odd that no one had any in stock. But you know the answer to your question -buy it online.
I would think that before driving all over the place (multiple stores, 40 miles?!), you might consider calling and asking if they have what you are looking for, or checking their web-site (the chain stores usually have their local inventory searchable online).
Local stores are better for browsing, online is better for getting that one
Book stores (Score:2)
But if you get the Ebook from Amazon, its not only cheaper, you don't need to drive there and get it, and theres no trees chopped down to print it.
Way lower carbon footprint.
Re: (Score:2)
But if you get the Ebook from Amazon, its not only cheaper, you don't need to drive there and get it, and theres no trees chopped down to print it.
Way lower carbon footprint.
If you buy the physical book, that carbon is sequestered out of the atmosphere.
Re: (Score:2)
The point of shopping local is the money stays local.
If everyone does that, it all cancels out. You don't buy from them, and they don't buy from you.
That would be zero-sum if many small businesses were as efficient as one bigger business. But they're not. So it's negative-sum.
Economic specialization is the foundation of civilization.
Juche [wikipedia.org] doesn't work.
Re: (Score:2)
How dare you tell me where to buy my $5 lattes and avocado toast!
policies (Score:5, Insightful)
>"After the COVID-19 pandemic upended mom-and-pops around the city and resulted in thousands shuttering for good"
No, the COVID-19 pandemic didn't do that. The POLICIES that were enacted did that. Now you may go ahead and mod this down to oblivion.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
All that did was accelerate the demise of a business that was already circling the drain.
I don't think that is really true. All you have to do is go to any major city's downtown and see that a lot of previously thriving businesses are no longer there. Certainly businesses owned by people with deep pockets were more likely to survive. But there were plenty of small previously profitable businesses that didn't.
Re: (Score:2)
go to any major city's downtown and see that a lot of previously thriving businesses are no longer there.
How do you know they were thriving?
It isn't easy to judge the health of a business by walking past and looking in the window.
Re: (Score:2)
How do you know they were thriving? It isn't easy to judge the health of a business by walking past and looking in the window.
How do you know they weren't? I didn't examine their books if that's what you mean
.
Maybe those thriving downtowns were all an illusion. But shops that were always full of people, restaurants that had lines at lunch and businesses that were growing and adding office space aren't there any more.
Re:policies (Score:5, Interesting)
>"After the COVID-19 pandemic upended mom-and-pops around the city and resulted in thousands shuttering for good"
No, the COVID-19 pandemic didn't do that. The POLICIES that were enacted did that.
No, not at all. In fact you can find examples of failure of small stores globally even among countries that didn't have lockdowns or similar policies. COVID-19 on a global and policy detached way upended the economics we built businesses on. Cost of shipping skyrocketed, fuel skyrocketed, inflation put pressure on shops, rents increased. The decline of mom-and-pop shops happened in places hard hit by COVID, and in places which had barely any cases at all.
Now you may go ahead and mod this down to oblivion.
What is it with this new trend of abrasive people pretending to play the victim. If you're going to be downvoted for something it will be because your post is wrong snowflake.
Re: (Score:2)
>"COVID-19 on a global and policy detached way upended the economics we built businesses on. Cost of shipping skyrocketed, fuel skyrocketed, inflation put pressure on shops, rents increased."
And all of those were probably mostly due to shutdowns, inciting fear/panic, mandates, artificial restrictions, etc... not just because some of their employees were sick. And inflation was also mostly the outcome of policies.
>"What is it with this new trend of abrasive people pretending to play the victim"
LOL,
Re: (Score:2)
you can find examples of failure of small stores globally even among countries that didn't have lockdowns or similar policies.
Which countries are you talking about?
Cost of shipping skyrocketed, fuel skyrocketed, inflation put pressure on shops, rents increased. The decline of mom-and-pop shops happened in places hard hit by COVID, and in places which had barely any cases at all.
I would think that would support the idea that COVID, the disease, was not the problem. Its not like we saw a slow decline, stores closed over night and never re-opened.
Re: (Score:2)
Now you may go ahead and mod this down to oblivion.
What is it with this new trend of abrasive people pretending to play the victim. If you're going to be downvoted for something it will be because your post is wrong snowflake.
It's not exactly a new phenomenon, it's just that they've found a very loud soap box in the form of anonymous messaging on the internet.
There's always been a group of people who believe that being a victim gives you special treatment, so they seek to become victims without having to suffer the prerequisite trauma. As victims they think they can't be silenced or argued with, that everyone should just silently agree with them.
Victims generally get different treatment because they've been through somethi
Re:policies (Score:4, Informative)
>"After the COVID-19 pandemic upended mom-and-pops around the city and resulted in thousands shuttering for good"
No, the COVID-19 pandemic didn't do that. The POLICIES that were enacted did that.
Mom and Pop stores have been dying off since at least the 1970s. If you're old enough, you've seen or heard plenty of stories on that topic, over and over, during this past half century - whether it's shopping malls, big box retailers, or online shopping... they've all been helping kill off small local businesses. COVID-19, one way or another, was certainly another significant stressor on these businesses... but it was just the latest one.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: policies (Score:2)
lol, COVID POLICIES killed mom and pops, and your shopping malls! Don't look behind the Walmart, internet, and Amazon curtain.
Re: (Score:2)
>"lol, COVID POLICIES killed mom and pops, and your shopping malls! Don't look behind the Walmart, internet, and Amazon curtain."
My retort was to the article/summary, which clearly tried to blame "the pandemic." I didn't make the claim.
Howevr, it is true that many such businesses were already hard-up; and those policies did push tons of them over the cliff. And look at restaurants. The COVID-19 *reaction policies* and extended irrational hysteria killed perhaps and third to half of all the restaurants
Shopping Locally (Score:3)
I would love to shop locally more, but there are obstacles that local companies refuse (or are unable) to address:
1) I don't want to drive around town and browse, as I have better things to do with my increasingly limited time and money. Most local companies STILL haven't grasped this Internet shopping thingy. They act like it's still 1994 instead of 2004.
2) I have no idea if local stores have anything I want, because of point #1.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
1) I don't want to drive around town and browse
Then don't.
Seriously.
If you don't enjoy browsing and finding something you weren't precisely looking for just order online. Don't be "that guy" who walks in the door and gets pissy at the counter staff because they don't have the exact one item you want. You are not the target audience. Self-select out.
But don't be surprised when there are no local jobs in your community. When all work is remote work for *BigCorp* there is no reason for your community to exist as a community.
Amex Irony (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
AMEX sucks from every angle if you accept it as merchant.
American Express *ALWAYS* sides with the card holder in a dispute no matter what, period. As a merchant you will NEVER win a dispute with AMEX or the card holder, never ever. It's always "fuck you, you lose, and we're also going to charge you a service fee for daring to contest it".
No matter how blatant the fraud is, they'll give the card holder their money back. No matter how egregious and unsubstantiated the claim is, they'll give the card holder th
Re: (Score:2)
So, you’re telling me that an AmEx card owner (read: thief) who proceeds to purposely and willingly purchase an entire Christmas tree worth of gifts, can simply call up AmEx every year (like a new personal holiday tradition), and simply claim fraud/stolen card, and they’ll *ALWAYS* get their money back on that scam?
Something tells me this isn’t quite as true as it seems. Otherwise, AmEx would be known as THE criminal support organization with the ability to ignore consumer protection laws
Re: (Score:2)
Tell me you've never had a merchant-side dispute with AMEX without telling me you've never had a merchant-side dispute with AMEX.
So, you’re telling me that an AmEx card owner (read: thief) who proceeds to purposely and willingly purchase an entire Christmas tree worth of gifts, can simply call up AmEx every year (like a new personal holiday tradition), and simply claim fraud/stolen card, and they’ll *ALWAYS* get their money back on that scam?
That's not what I said, but thanks for the hyperbole. The fact is though that you're not that far off. I had clients commit *ridiculously* blatant fraud, super-obvious fraud, and AMEX didn't give a shit. Repeat: Did. Not. Give. A. Shit.
Could they charge back a whole tree full of gifts? Probably not, but maybe- it would depend on when and where they bought them, but this was more f
It may be impossible to support local businesses (Score:2)
Perhaps we're too used to lower prices coming out of corporate owned/organized chain stores, but there's no way a local business/mom-pop store can compete with prices from stores. Case in point. I live in a far suburb of Chicago (60 miles outside of downtown). A local bakery opened within a short driving distance (2 miles) of my home. I went in their first week and bought some bread and donuts from them. Since it was the end of the day, she threw in a couple of extra things in my bag. The price was re
Re: (Score:3)
I can't speak to your area, but where I live it seems like most of the new bakeries, restaurants, and other shops I've seen open over the past decade aren't trying to be just a "good local bakery" etc. - they're all aiming for the upscale boutique niche. The type of places where the staff appear to be told "treat the customers well, but always with an attitude of aloof superiority". The kind of places that don't thank you for your business, they "congratulate" you on finding them.
Higher prices are part of t
Re: (Score:2)
For small business, this has always been true though. The difference in price, was made up in better ingredients, better flavor, perhaps homegrown/homemade/organic, and even a unique flavor or ingredient. Today they still can do that, but because of what ALL other associated cost increases that a small business has to endure at often consumer prices (no massive corporate breaks for Cindy Loo Hoo Cookies when they’re not ordering ingredients by the 55-gallon drum), it becomes very difficult to compet
Frys was awesome (Score:4)
No thank you (Score:2)
No thank you.
No small businesses have what I want or price (Score:2)