SBA Arizona Reminds Us to Shop Locally for Small Business Saturday, Nov. 30

Please join our community in celebrating November 30, 2024, as Small Business Saturday. It is a day to celebrate and support small businesses and all they do for our communities.  When our dollars stay in our community, we all help small businesses thrive and prosper..

We look forward to seeing small businesses engage in acts of celebration, sharing, and creating an even deeper significance in our local communities.  Hopefully, our holiday celebrations will be bigger this year, happier this year, because our values remain unchanged.

This is the season of caring, and also, the season of giving.  We all look for ways to ease suffering and connect with our loved ones, even if we were doing it from 2,000 miles away, over a computer screen.  That is probably the one good thing to come out of COVID19.  Meeting/ visiting technology has vastly improved and as a people, we are better for it.

While we still care for our neighbors, by donating meals and gifts and prepare the same for our family, I urge you to make purchases from local small businesses.

Arizona’s small businesses are the backbone of our economy and, the heartbeat of our communities.  Small business owners continue to demonstrate their resilience and commitment to meet the moment before them.

Celebrated each year, on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, Small Business Saturday is a way for us to support independently owned businesses. When we shop small on Saturday, November 30, we are making a statement, and our purchases will make a difference.

Personally, I will attend a Farmer’s Market in the morning, talking to as many people as I can about SBA’s programs and services, and then buy lunch and dinner from two small business restaurants.

Here are five ways to thank a small business this holiday season:

1. Go virtual.  Most small businesses have the capacity to make shopping both easy and convenient through delivery and/or curb-side pickup.  Visit their websites and complete your purchases.  The beauty of virtual is that it could be from a small business at last summer’s vacation, or 20 states away.
2. Buy gift cards. These are offered by local cafes, restaurants, and breweries for take-out or to save for later use.  Just like retailers, food and beverage businesses offer easy online purchasing.
3. Support the arts.  Visit the websites of your favorite local music and theatre organizations to purchase tickets to concerts and performances.
4. Get social (media). Share and engage with social media content from your favorite small business in order to boost their online marketing efforts.  Also, be sure to leave your review online. Small businesses need feed-back.
5. Go local. Visit the website of local Chambers of Commerce to find a directory of small businesses.  While there, look for how to join them for their celebration of Small Business Saturday and the holiday season.

Robert J. Blaney has served as the district director of the U.S. Small Business Administration for the State of Arizona since 1998.  His varied experience includes work as a federal agent, police officer, vice-president of an insurance brokerage and district director for the late Congressman Jack Kemp.  He is a native of western New York and a graduate of the Buffalo State University.