What Is Small Business Saturday? Best Cities In Country For Local Shopping

After spending big bucks at big box retailers during Thanksgiving and Black Friday sales, consumers have turned their attention to the other side of retail for Small Business Saturday, a day which encourages shopping at the more local and small-scale mom and pop stores in cities.

The big shopping day, which is sponsored by American Express, encourages shoppers to avoid the more recognizable stores in favor of the ones owned by their neighbors and other members of their local communities. The idea is to give back to the community through the event, by streaming revenue back into it, instead of into the pockets of the corporations that own the bigger chain stores.

While Black Friday and Thanksgiving, as well as Cyber Monday, are all big shopping days that see huge revenue for stores and consumers spending billions of their hard-earned money, Small Business Saturday is also projected to be a successful shopping day, with billions expected to be spent after 2016 saw as many as 112 million customers reportedly shopping at independently-owned businesses and spending more than $15 billion.

While all consumers may know of businesses they would love to frequent in their towns for the day, some places are also potentially going to be better in terms of the atmosphere that small businesses can provide. In a recent study conducted by Thumbtack.com, several cities were rated based on how small-business friendly they were, with Boise, Idaho, Worcester, Massachusetts, San Antonio, Austin, Texas, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Memphis, Tennessee, Louisville, Kentucky, Lawrence, Massachusetts, Salt Lake City and Houston all ranked as being the friendliest to small business owners.

Of course, small mom-and-pop brick and mortar retail shops aren't the only ones who are expected to benefit on Small Business Saturday. The movement also encourages consumers with plans to eat out to Dine Small as well, and take their patronage to local restaurants instead of chains.

In addition, there is some focus online as well. Similarly to Black Friday, where online sales have increased greatly over the years, small shops are also popping up online, specifically with stores in places like Etsy.

According to CNBC, Etsy sellers have been prepping for months in the hopes that they will see big sales throughout Small Business Saturday. This is the first time that Etsy has partnered up with American Express for the event.