By Lorenzo Salinas

l.v.salinas@panews.com

 

While shoppers flocked toward big retail and online shops on Black Friday, local businesses in Mid County prepared for their day in the sun with their own door busters, special sales and gift bags to provide eager patrons.

Small Business Saturday is an American shopping holiday meant to encourage customers to shop local and to frequent the brick and mortar stores in their area. It is also a time for local businesses to prepare themselves for a busier-than-usual customer flow with extended store hours, one-day discounts and other retail incentives.

“We’re going to have some of the same door busters Saturday that we had on Black Friday,” Deane Spradley, owner and operator of Curvy Couture in Nederland, said. “And then we’re going to offer a special percentage off some items from 11 to 3.”

Melissa Freer, owner and operator of Crunchy Momma 2.0, planned on having some special treats for those shoppers ready to attend her store earlier than usual in the morning. Crunch Momma 2.0 usually opens at noon on Saturdays, but would be opening at 10 a.m. instead for the shopping holiday.

“We have swag bags we’re going to give out and we’re probably going to have hot chocolate, too,” Freer said. “We’re going to have special deals between 10 and noon, and regular deals all day.”

For local florist shop The Cherry Tree in Port Neches, Christmas is right around the corner and they’ve prepared accordingly.

“I have some Christmas trees outside; and we’re going to have a 25 percent sale off everything in the store,” Cherry Tree owner and operator Lydia Comstock said.

Comstock mentioned that the store not only offers floral arrangements but that it features a gift shop as well. The 25-percent discount also applies to the gifts in the shop.

When asked about the possible effects Tropical Storm Harvey would have on business this year, most proprietors were optimistic.

“This year seems a little better than last year,” Spradley said, in terms of business. “I think this year (shoppers) want to be able to celebrate something; so, people seem more interested in celebrating more this year.”

“I feel like we have a good customer base of loyal customers,” Freer said. “And we’ve been there with them for the last three years. I feel like we’re going to have a great Small Business Saturday.”

For some local retailers like Comstock, she has found that in order to better compete with online retailers, she had to take her floral shop online like the bigger retail chains.

“What I have done—and recently—is updated my website where people could purchase flower arrangements online,” Comstock said. “This week is our first week live and I can’t believe the response we’ve gotten.”

She said she was pleasantly surprised by the order numbers, but more so that most of her online customers weren’t local customers but rather out-of-towners who were buying arrangements for funerals and other events in the area.

Still, like any of the owners embracing the spirit of Saturday’s holiday could say, it’s good to shop local.