CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The popularity of Small Business Saturday is growing in West Virginia and across the U.S.
“Small Business Saturday’s essential,” said Karen Friel, West Virginia district director for the U.S. Small Business Administration, of the significance of the Nov. 30 date in the overall holiday shopping season.
Last year, 104 million U.S. consumers reported shopping or eating at local, independently-owned businesses across the United States on Small Business Saturday, according to the 2018 Consumer Insight Survey.
Nationwide, total spending on that day reached a record estimated high of $17.8 billion.
“It doesn’t break down and tell me exactly what was West Virginia, but each year it’s gotten to be more and more,” Friel said.
The first official Small Business Saturday to promote small businesses was held in November 2010 between Black Friday and Cyber Monday on the holiday shopping schedule.
In West Virginia, small businesses make up 99 percent of all of West Virginia’s businesses and employ more than half of the Mountain State’s total workforce, the SBA reported.
“Small businesses create a significant impact through local communities, they’re kind of like the engine of our economy,” she told MetroNews.
For example, Friel said small businesses donate 250 percent more than larger businesses to local nonprofits and community causes.
“Our small businesses here in West Virginia are the glue that’s holding our communities together,” she said.
“We really need to support them because they’re there every day supporting us.”
A map of businesses participating in Small Business Saturday was available HERE.