Small Businesses See Big Crowds On Day After Black Friday
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DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - In what many see as the biggest shopping weekend of the year, malls, department stores, and even online retailers compete for the consumers' business through sales and the hottest gift ideas. But where do small businesses fit into this picture of holiday shopping?
Shoppers in North Texas cashed in on local deals in what is known as "Small Business Saturday," which is sandwiched in between Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
It's a day devoted to the little guys.
"For a retailer, the holidays are everything," Carley Sealer, owner of the Gypsy Wagon boutique, said. "The next 25 days is our whole seasons, really, our whole year."
The boutique, located in the Knox-Henderson area, has grown in the last nine years, and so have sales, thanks to small business shoppers.
"I didn't go out at all yesterday," shopper Meredith Otte said. "I did a little online browsing but thought I'd wait and support local businesses today."
Some stores offered free gift wrapping, which is a convenience that enticed shoppers like Otte to skip the shopping mall frenzy.
"I've already grabbed a few things, and they've offered to hold it for me," Otte said. "It just seems a lot more personal."
Food trucks were also trying to cash in on the traffic that some of the small businesses were bringing in.
"We have a bunch of small businesses out here that we're trying to catch some foot traffic off of," Donnie McFarland, owner of the Easy Slider food truck, said.
Small business shoppers saw Saturday as a way to squeeze in some Christmas shopping and to support the community.
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