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Small Business Saturday on tap

BUCKHANNON — As many begin to venture out for holiday shopping, the United States Small Business Administrations urges shoppers to support local businesses on Small Business Saturday this weekend.

Small Business Saturday is strategically nestled between two of the largest shopping days of the year — the day after Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday.

Each year the SBA diligently promotes community members to support their local shops and restaurants for Small Business Saturday.

“Small business owners and main street business really are the fabric of our daily lives,” said Nikki Bowmar, public affairs specialist of the West Virginia District Office of the SBA. “They have energy and a passion for what they do, and as you can see, when we support small businesses, jobs are created and local communities preserve their unique culture.”

The impact on shopping small may not be recognized, but small businesses create two of every three new net private-sector jobs in the United States.

“This spurs economic development in communities across our country giving millions of families and individuals the opportunity to achieve the American dream,” noted Bowmar.

With small businesses shoppers, she added, customers are turning the dollar back into their community, because those small businesses turn right back around and contribute to local organizations, activities and “above all, they provide pay checks that employ the community.”

This is one of the reasons why the SBA encourages customers to shop locally yearround.

Nearly 99 percent of all employers in the state are small businesses, which vitally influences the local economy.

Last year shoppers were reported to have spent $15.4 billion at independent retailers and restaurants on Small Business Saturday, Bowmar said.

This Saturday throughout the country, many downtowns will be promoting their holiday items and local area to holiday visitors and community members.

Lisa Hulver, owner of TATEEP Unique Boutique in Buckhannon, said it’s important that local businesses participant in Small Business Saturday, and she thinks the local shops keep the area alive.

“I think small businesses are very, very important, especially keeping the small towns alive,” she said. “If you don’t have the small businesses in your small towns, then your small towns die, and that unfortunately is a common thing you see out there.”

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