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SALT LAKE CITY — Saturday is Small Business Saturday — when holiday shoppers are encouraged to spend at local mom and pop stores.
“I totally believe in Small Business Saturday,” said Diane Etherington, owner of The Children’s Hour, a boutique shop in Salt Lake’s 9th & 9th neighborhood.
Over the 35 years in business, she has leaned to adjust to the big-box stores.
“But, the internet has been a whole other thing that’s been tough to compete with," she said.
Sure, it’s easy to order gifts on a smartphone. But, local stores offer a personal touch you can’t get online.
“What we look for is customers who really want to touch and feel, who want a personal contact, who want to be able to chat and want some advice,” Etherington said.
Over at the King’s English Bookshop at 15th and 15th, Small Business Saturday is one of their busiest days of the year.
“We know that Amazon doesn’t have book sellers that will talk to you about the titles and help you find the perfect book for the person you’re giving it to,” said the store’s marketing manager, Rob Eckman.
But there is more to it than the personal touch. A study of 22 Salt Lake stores and restaurants by private research firm, Civic Economics, found for every $100 you spend locally, $52 stays in the community. Spend that same hundred bucks at a national chain and only $14 stays here.
Need another reason to shop Small Business Saturday? There are always the deals.
“On Saturday itself, we’ll be offering 20 percent off everything on our shelves,” Eckman said. “Through Dec. 1, we’ll be offering 15 percent off our merchandise as part of the Local First initiative ‘Shift Your Spending.’”
“We’re going to do an extra 10 percent on all our sale items,” Etherington said. “There will be a lot (of) new things on sale that have not been before. Then, we have gifts for the first 25 people, I think, who make a purchase.”
And those are just two of the scores of locally-owned shops offering deals across Utah on Small Business Saturday.
