It comes just once a year, and it's all about consumers buying from local small businesses. It's called Small Business Saturday and some shops in the F-M were blown away by the local response.
We all know about the day after thanksgiving, the notorious Black Friday. The lines and craziness of getting your hands on some of the best steals of the season are too good to pass up for many. But there's a new holiday shopping buzz out there, and it's gaining momentum.
"I think small business Saturday is about buying local and supporting local, and keeping the money in the community. Making sure we're supporting the people in our community." Says Cassandra Maland as she takes a break to chat with us in between her local shopping spree.
Cassandra and Shane Maland decided to come out for the new shopping craze. They like buying locally and supporting mom and pop shops that are born and raised right here in the F-M. They opened up their bag of gifts, to show what they found from a small shop downtown Fargo; "should I show you what we got? A baby gift for someone who just had a baby, and it says made local."
Unglued Market one of the dozens of shops in the F-M involved in small business Saturday drew in quite the crowd this morning. They even put the icing on the cake, or more specifically cupcake, for the first 100 customers.
Ashley Morken the owner of Unglued Market says business has been booming today, "our Saturdays are steady but today has been awesome already. We opened at 7am and we're giving away a free cupcake with a purchase."
Because shops like this can't always compete with corporate America prices, small business Saturday reminds us all that there are treasures to be found in shops, right in our own backyard.
Morken says people around here have become more and more interested in buying gifts that are made by locals, "we just know more and more people are interested in local and handmade (crafts) to be able to give a unique product for Christmas and not just a gift card."
That's pretty much the reason why Cassandra shops here, "it's a good way to support and a good way to find your Christmas gifts. You might spend a little bit more, but knowing that somebody put the time and love into it means a lot more."
Nationally, last years small business Saturday brought out over 100 million shoppers buying from independently owned businesses. Often, like Unglued Market downtown, those small mom and pop shops also buy their products locally.
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