Carrie Ballard prepares for Small Business Saturday shoppers at Bay 7 Vintage.
Small businesses across the county and country are gearing up for their biggest shopping day of the year.
The good deals don’t stop with chain retailers on Black Friday. Most local retailers across the county have deals all weekend long, starting Friday and ending on Saturday or Sunday, depending on their business hours.
Small Business Saturday is a shopping holiday created by American Express in 2010 to give small businesses a boost during the recession. Now, it is a cherished tradition that promotes shopping small on this day and year-round.
The makeshift holiday is being celebrated across Johnson County. To start the day, shoppers can attend kick-off celebrations hosted by the Franklin Chamber of Commerce or Restore Old Town Greenwood to receive tote bags stuffed with coupons, free gifts and samples.
The Franklin Chamber is bringing back its in-person Start Here Open House at its downtown office, 120 E. Jefferson St., Franklin from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Chamber went virtual with the city’s small business celebration last year due to the coronavirus pandemic, said Rosie Chambers, executive director. During the week of Thanksgiving, the Chamber instead held a virtual scavenger hunt and gave away gift cards to local businesses.
The Chamber’s tote bags will come with a downtown map showing the location of shopping destinations, fliers on downtown events and various free items from participating businesses. The tote bags will go fast, and there will likely be a line at the door before 10 a.m., Chambers said.
People come back year after year for a chance at winning Chamber Cash, a coupon for money off a purchase at participating small businesses. This year, the bags provide shoppers with a total of $1,500 off purchases at local businesses. The first 50 bags will contain between $5 and $100 in Chamber Cash, and anyone 18 or older is eligible for a bag, she said.
The Franklin kick-off event will also have refreshments, including coffee from Main and Madison, Jack’s Donuts and energy drinks from Legacy Nutrition, Chambers said.
The Restore Old Town Greenwood tote giveaway will be at House to Home Marketplace, 241 W. Main St., Greenwood from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Saturday.
They will also have 50 tote bags to give away on a first-come-first-serve basis, with the first 40 to contain Old Town Dollars valued at $5 to $35, which can be redeemed for money off purchases made at participating businesses, said Darcy Miles, event organizer. The bags also contain various free gifts, coupons and samples from participating businesses, she said.
They expect the bags will go quick, and shoppers are advised to come early for a chance at the coupons, Miles said.
Coffee and refreshments will also be served at the kick-off event, said Marci Pittman, a co-owner of House to Home.
Stores, breweries and restaurants in Old Town are also hosting Sip and Shop events from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Some of the participating businesses are Take Root Country Store, House to Home Marketplace, Brick and Mortar and Jade Stone Boutique.
Studio 317 Fitness and Cycling, 500 Polk St., will offer free to-try workout classes from 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., and a coffee and juice bar from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m., according to its website.
Local retailers in Bargersville, Edinburgh and other small towns in Johnson County will participate in the big day, too, though there aren’t planned events in those communities.
New businesses and legacy shops will open their doors for shoppers and offer incentives to shop, such as discounts and gifts with purchases.
Pittman and two of her friends, Megan Gutherie and Jordan Trieste, opened House to Home about a year ago, during the pandemic. The women brought together their experiences in interior design and entrepreneurship to create a business that offers their customers several ways to spruce up their home décor.
“We started this business during the pandemic, which we didn’t plan,” Pittman said. “But it turned out to be really good for business. Since people were home, they were seeing all these things they didn’t like about their home.”
Their brick-and-mortar storefront is open a few times a month in a pop-up format, but customers can buy online and request interior design services anytime, she said.
Many of the items used in their home design work and for sale at the shop are from other small businesses, those that offer fair trade goods or those dedicated to a cause such as ending human trafficking. Supporting other businesses and causes is important to owners and sets them apart from similar businesses, Pittman said.
Franklin’s newest downtown small business, Bay 7 Vintage, 164 E. Jefferson St., is opening for its first Small Business Saturday. The business, which opened in early October, offers mid-century furniture and a wide variety of unique, vintage home décor, including Christmas decorations.
Owners Carrie and Clay Ballard ran their vintage business out of a warehouse in Greenwood for about three years after they got started selling products on eBay, an online auction site, Clay Ballard said. When the lease was up on their old space in February, they started looking for a new space and decided on the one in Franklin, where they live and where Clay grew up.
Business is going well so far, and they look forward to introducing more people to their shop this weekend, they said. Their unique and ever-changing selection of vintage items sets them apart from similar stores, and gives customers a reason to come back frequently, Carrie Ballard said.
“We want people to feel like they are able to buy something here that they are not able to find somewhere else,” she said.
Bay 7 is offering 10% off items with blue or green tags, 25% of blow mold Christmas décor and will have a drawing for a set of vintage Santa Claus mugs.
Small Business Saturday is huge for local shops, new and old, Chambers said.
“This is a make-it-or-break-it-time for our local businesses, not just this day, but the whole season,” she said. “This season sustains our small businesses for the whole year.”
Supporting small businesses should not be a one-day event. About 67 cents of every dollar spent at local businesses stays in the community, so supporting local businesses helps keep the local economy healthy, Chambers said
“The goal of this day is not just to promote Small Business Saturday, it is to promote supporting small businesses all year,” she said.
