Shoppers Urged to Wait for Small Business Saturday

Small Business advocates and state officials are encouraging everyone to participate in Small Business Saturday on November 29.

Tom Underwood, state director of the National Federation of Independent Business, says holiday shoppers can make a big difference in their communities.

"Black Friday is when people like to get up early and fight over parking spaces and line up outside the chain stores, but if you’re looking for something unique and want to support your friends and neighbors, you need to support Small Business Saturday,” Underwood said.

The holiday shopping season is crucial to the state's small businesses, which are still recovering from the slowdown in the economy. According to the NFIB Small-Business Optimism Index for October, poor sales is the most important challenge facing small businesses, after government red tape and taxes.

“Small business is what our economy is all about, and if we’re going to create jobs, we need a healthy small-business community," Underwood said.

Shoppers are wising up to Small Business Saturday. Last year, shoppers spent $5.7 billion at locally-owned shops and restaurants on Small Business Saturday, according to a survey conducted by American Express and the National Federation of Independent Business. Last year's total marked a 3.6 percent increase over 2012's event. Seventy-eight percent of shoppers plan on spending more or the same amount on Small Business Saturday as they did in 2013.

Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner James Comer says an easy way to ensure you are buying local is to look for Kentucky Proud products.

“Buying Kentucky Proud is a great way to show your friends and loved ones how you feel about them as well as your Kentucky home,” Commissioner Comer said. “Kentucky Proud gifts can be especially meaningful to people in other states who have a connection to Kentucky. And of course, when you buy Kentucky Proud, you’re helping Kentucky farm families and small businesses.”

Kentucky Proud recently revamped its website at www.kyproud.com with a state-of-the-art search engine to enable users to find Kentucky Proud products and stores that carry them. From the website, users can download the Kentucky Proud locater app for their smartphones, find a farmers’ market, search recipes that use Kentucky Proud products, and locate a family-friendly Kentucky farm destination.