By WAYNE BELL
U.S. Small Business Administration
The 2018 Holiday Season is rapidly approaching or already begun depending on your perspective. As we are finalizing menus and guest lists for Thanksgiving Day meals, maybe you are already thinking ahead about the friends and family you will be shopping with or for on that notorious biggest shopping weekend of the year. You might already be scouting Black Friday deals, making your plans to be efficient and get the most bang for your buck. But have you thought about how your local community can get the most bang for your buck?
Your community gets more return on your dollar when you shop small and local. Small businesses are the glue that holds our communities together. They create jobs and boost the economy. In fact two of every three new jobs are created by small business. How does that add up? In Kansas that amounts to 99.1 percent of all businesses are small and 51 percent of Kansans either own or are employed by small businesses.
During this holiday season, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) hopes you will celebrate the more than 250,000 small businesses in Kansas that ignite our local economies and enrich our communities throughout the year by shopping and dining local and small on Small Business Saturday this November 24. What is Small Business Saturday? It is a day for each of us to acknowledge those businesses that deliver essential goods and services to our communities 365 days a year by shopping or dining with them while we are out and about in our communities, shopping, dining, or just enjoying a visit over a cup of coffee with family and friends.
Last year, Small Business Saturday generated approximately $12 billion in spending and four in ten American adults reporting having shopped or dined small on that day. Why did shoppers and diners make that kind of commitment last year? In Kansas 64 percent of survey respondents shared they enjoyed supporting their local communities and 48 percent said that staff and owners at independently-owned businesses often provide better customer service – and we all know how critical that can be to keep our spirits up and the holiday mood joyous during busy shopping days!
I encourage you to join me and more than 100 million Americans that will shop and dine small this Small Business Saturday, November 24. Show your support for the Kansas small businesses that keep us all going not only throughout the Holiday Season, but all year long. Be sure to share your great stories and where you’re shopping via social media using #ShopSmall. And from our whole SBA team in Wichita, we hope you have a safe and prosperous Holiday Season.
Wayne Bell is District Director of the Wichita District Office, U.S. Small Business Administration.