Small Business Saturday sees success

The best thing about Small Business Saturday may be that, as the event ages, the impact spreads throughout the holiday weekend.

On Nov. 25, a Saturday morning, many small business owners in downtown Whitefish said they are beginning to see the event catch on, and local residents are patronizing their businesses more on Black Friday and in the days following the event rather than just on Saturday, where the spike has been in past years.

At 10 a.m., parking throughout the main part of Whitefish abounded, but by noon the area was filling up quickly. That trend is something many business owners said may be another reason the day is so appealing to families.

Susan Schnee, owner of Copperleaf Chocolate Co. and Voyageur Booksellers, said she is beginning to see the holiday weekend traffic spread across the days of the weekend more evenly.

“What I notice most is the day before is starting to pick up for small business,” Schnee said.

She said she has been operating downtown for 11 years, and while the organized event on Saturday has always been a boon to business, that recent development is encouraging.

Emily Goodrich is a sales associate at Chill Clothing Co., which was offering 20 percent off merchandise storewide. The company, which has been in town for four years after expanding from its flagship location in Kona, Hawaii, is decorated with art made by the owner Charisse Duchardt.

Goodrich said that was a good example of one of the reasons small businesses can be such a great addition to a community. She also said the store gets in new merchandise every week and had things that were specifically for this holiday weekend, like a limited edition “snow ghost” ball cap, so consumers could be sure that the products they were buying were unique at a level not available from big box stores.

SMALL BUSINESS Saturday took off when the national credit card company American Express took on the marketing and helped coordinate the event nationwide back in 2010. The genesis story is a bit ironic. On the web page dedicated to the event, the company defines a small business as any company with fewer than 150 employees. American Express measures their employees in the tens of thousands.

The Kalispell Chamber of Commerce, which helps promote businesses taking part in the event throughout the valley, have been participants for the past six years and have seen increasing levels of success each consecutive year.

Businesses register online and receive marketing materials and store displays in advance. Many stores offer special discounts for the day of the event, while others promise to contribute a portion of the proceeds to a local charity.

Those are meant to incentivize consumers to patronize their stores on a day centered on the idea of a community wanting to spend dollars in a manner that keeps them in the area, rather than at big box stores that can leech wealth from the places it is earned.

“The money that you spend at small local businesses stays here so much more than it does at the larger, national chain stores,” said Kate Lufkin, marketing and communications manager with the chamber.

When consumers spend a dollar at a large box store, an average of about 43 cents of it are going to stay in the Flathead, according to Lufkin. If that same shopper pays a dollar for merchandise at a small business, the average jumps to about 69 cents staying in the community where the merchandise was purchased.

“Small businesses are what keeps our little home up here so special,” Lufkin said.

TO KICK off the day, at 10 a.m. the Chamber in Kalispell gave away 100 free tote bags that were filled with special promotions and merchandise. About 50 of those gift bags had gift cards as well. This is the second year they have done that, Lufkin said.

It’s difficult for the chamber to measure the precise economic impact of the valley, but the tote-bag giveaway also serves as an informal barometer of popularity.

“I think last year it is pretty telling that we had 100 people show up to the chamber and pick up a bag,” Lufkin said.

That, along with the testimony of business owners and sales associates, indicates the effort is well worth it, she added.

There is some data collected nationally, however. A survey from the National Federation of Independent Businesses and American Express says sales on Small Business Saturday in 2015 topped $16.2 billion, a 14 percent increase over the year prior.

Mimi Moser is a salesperson at the Dick Idol Gallery in downtown Whitefish. She said they released the details of their holiday discounts on Instagram on Black Friday so that people knew what to expect in time for Saturday, but they also appreciated a surge of customers coming in Friday as a result.

“We’re always trying to keep art on people’s mind,” Moser said.

The gallery was offering 15 percent off giclées of new owner Colt Idol’s work. A giclée is basically a print that is made on canvas rather than paper and produced by someone with a high degree of skill.

The result is a print that resembles an original to a much higher extent than traditional prints. They often go for thousands of dollars, so 15 percent adds up.

“I think it’s important to support the community, because they support us,” Moser said.

Reporter Peregrine Frissell can be reached at (406) 758-4438 or pfrissell@dailyinterlake.com.