What started as a marketing slogan by a massive credit card company 14 years ago has become a day of focus for thousands of small businesses in Michigan.
Sandwiched between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the Saturday after Thanksgiving is now promoted statewide as Small Business Saturday — a day to remind holiday shoppers that not everything is about scoring deals at big box stores and massive online retailers.
It even earns a proclamation from Michigan’s governor, marking the importance of the day, which was launched by American Express in 2010.
Shoppers too, seem to have taken notice.
“I think that people are more open to supporting small businesses this time of year,” said Kendra McNeil, owner of We Are LIT, a multicultural bookstore in Grand Rapids.
The U.S. Small Business Administration reports there are more than 945,000 small businesses in Michigan, employing 1.8 million people.
We Are LIT started in 2018, and has been growing since. It specializes in promoting and selling books by authors from diverse backgrounds, with an online store and frequent pop up shops around West Michigan. We Are LIT also has a space in the Arts Marketplace at Studio Park in downtown Grand Rapids.
McNeil said this is always a busy time of year for We Are LIT, with lots of organizations ordering books to fulfill wish lists or offering books as employee gifts.
But not everything for her is about sales.
“For me it’s also a time where I start to slow down,” McNeil said. “And I like to kind of use my time to give back.”
On Saturday, instead of offering markdowns on books, she said she’ll be at the Baxter Community Center offering photos with Santa for families.
She knows her approach to business is not the same as the bigger companies out there, and some shoppers will simply choose to go where they can get the best deal.
“Whenever people try to compare small businesses to, you know, Amazon, I just always say ‘That’s not my market.’ So I’m usually not offended,” McNeil said of customers who prefer to buy their books from the biggest online retailer in the world.
Ultimately she said there are enough people who want to support local business owners to keep her going.
“I think shopping small is a value that people hold,” McNeil said. “And I think that there’s a big enough market of people who hold that value to where it can overcome the people who want to get a deal — like on Amazon.”
