Small businesses have received massive support from U.S. shoppers during Small Business Saturday this year.
The American Express 2021 Small Business Saturday Consumer Insights Survey results said that U.S. consumers’ spending at restaurants and independent retailers hit about $23.3 billion, ABC7 reported.
This weekend, Inland Empire shoppers absolutely came to their favorite stores as a growing number of customers patronized local shops.
“You can find anything in here that you’re looking for,” Riverside resident Todd Ridgeway, a long-time Made on Magnolia Avenue customer, said. “It would be easier to sit at home, you know, with my coffee and my pajamas, ordering from Amazon, but that doesn’t get our community rebuilt. It doesn’t get people’s lives changed.”
The shop’s owner said that their business also closed because of the pandemic.
“We kind of never got back up to speed again,” Made’s owner Rico Alderette, said. “So, in the last two months, we have been picking up speed again. People are getting out and coming in, feeling comfortable. So, it’s awesome.”
Since American Express kicked off the Small Business Saturday movement in 2010, consumers are reported to have spent around $163 billion over the past 12 years.
Sixty-four of the survey respondents said that they make sure to look for shops with underrepresented owners as communities continue to battle the pandemic’s impact, especially for underrepresented-owned businesses.
This year, 79 percent of the consumers recognize the necessity of giving support to small businesses in their community. Sixty-six percent of the respondents also said that Small Business Saturday urges them to Shop Small for the whole year.
There is also a notable increase in online shopping during this year’s Small Business Saturday with 58 percent of shoppers shopping online. Last year, the figure was at 56 percent while in 2019, it was at 43 percent.
“This is our third year coming on Small Business Saturday to shop from local artists that we love in our community and [stores] have all the wonderful choices here,” another Riverside resident Margie Haupt, said.
