Natalie Gonnella
Tomorrow marks the first annual “Small Business Saturday”, a nationwide initiative started by American Express OPEN, encouraging consumers to shop locally the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
In addition to promoting local enterprise, “SBS” also seeks to inform shoppers about the signficant role local businesses play to communities and the economy.
According to "SBS":
- For every $100 spent at local small businesses, $60 returns to the community
- Small businesses employ half of all private sector employees
- Small businesses represent 99.7% of all employer firms
- For every year over the last decade, 60%-80% of new jobs were generated by small businesses
“SBS” has supported free advertising for more than 10,000 particpating businesses and entrepreneurs, and, as of this afternoon, the initiative's Facebook page had over 1,000,00 fans.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has endorsed “SBS", recently commenting that:
Small businesses are critical to our economy and to our livelihood. I have a number of things on my shopping list for this season and I hope New Jersey residents will join Mary Pat and me as we spend time shopping locally this Saturday - Cape May County Herald
In addition to the “SBS” website, consumers can also visit Twitter and Facebook to learn more about the initiative and participating supporters.
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