Small Business Saturday a success in Jefferson City

First there was Black Friday, then Cyber Monday… and now we have Small Business Saturday.

This day was started by American Express in 2010, and since has become wildly popular.

On this day, shoppers are encouraged to spend their holiday money at mom-and-pop stores.

Jefferson City is no stranger to small business. High Street downtown is loaded with locally-owned, small stores.

Workers are Saffees clothing shop in downtown Jefferson City were amazed at how many people came to their store to shop on Small Business Saturday.

“They’re smart. They’re good consumers. They know if you shop locally, the money stays local,” said Lynett Wiles, of Saffees.

Because there are fewer days than usual between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, many of the large chain stores starting the season on Thanksgiving or even earlier.

Saffees workers say that didn’t hurt their business one bit.

“Because of the big-box stores opening on Thursday, people did their bargain shopping on Thursday, which brought them downtown for Friday and Saturday,” said Wiles.

Social media was full of hashtags and statuses promoting Small Business Saturday. Local business workers believe this helped get the word out about the day.

“We did have a lot of people tell us that they came down specifically because it was Small Business Saturday,” said Wiles.

Shopper Halie Stegman says she always Christmas shops at locally-owned stores because she likes knowing where her money is going.

“I like shopping at small businesses, especially locally because I feel like I trust where my money is going more, and I know the people that own the business, so it makes it a little bit more comfortable to shop there,” said Stegman.

The National Federation of Independent Businesses said Americans spent $5.5 billion on Small Business Saturday.