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United States Businesses

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.

To Urge Local Shopping, America Celebrates 15th Annual 'Small Business Saturday'

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  • policies (Score:5, Insightful)

    by markdavis ( 642305 ) on Saturday November 30, 2024 @10:57AM (#64981225)

    >"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.

    • The COVID response has become so politicized that it is impossible to have any kind of level evaluation it. Its become part of people's identity. Kids across the country are struggling in school. This is often attributed to COVID, but we are not seriously evaluating the damage done by closing schools and whether it had a net benefit. Opening any discussion of the response just opens a can of worms with people yelling cliches at one another.
    • Re:policies (Score:5, Interesting)

      by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Saturday November 30, 2024 @11:37AM (#64981323)

      >"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.

      • >"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,

      • 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.

      • by mjwx ( 966435 )

        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)

      by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Saturday November 30, 2024 @02:13PM (#64981651)

      >"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.

      • I remember evening news stories about Walmart destroying the mid-west Main Street. THose businesses were gone long ago, and the internet took over before Walmart could reach the West Coast (where I lived anyway), they're there now though, but by then strip malls were a thing.
    • lol, COVID POLICIES killed mom and pops, and your shopping malls! Don't look behind the Walmart, internet, and Amazon curtain.

      • >"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

  • by StormReaver ( 59959 ) on Saturday November 30, 2024 @12:57PM (#64981479)

    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.

    • Maybe towns should make something to get people like you at least consider visiting town centre (where I assume most small business should be)? I know it is hard and it will take a lot of time. Getting into a car is already a big hurdle.
    • 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.

  • Which payment card is not accepted by most small businesses due to excessive percentage take on transactions? American Express. Which payment card did I discontinue due to an annual fee, after noting that I had used it not once in several years? American Express.
    • 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

      • 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

        • 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

  • 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

    • 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

    • 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

  • by zawarski ( 1381571 ) on Saturday November 30, 2024 @02:07PM (#64981631)
    Too bad ya kids will never get to experience it in its heyday. Also shout out to the ghost of Opamp Technical Bookstore.
  • No thank you.

I'd rather just believe that it's done by little elves running around.

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