It`s hard for shops like Team Active in Battle Creek to compete with big box retail stores. That`s why events like Small Business Saturday are so important. This year Team Active enticed their customers by offering special discounts.
“We had several people who came out just for Small Businesses Saturday. They actually told us they were here because of Small Business Saturday,” DeGraaf said
Small Businesses Saturday started back in 2010 by American Express as a way to go along with Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Stephanie Fields is the co-owner for Fancy Nancy’s in Battle Creek. They just opened their doors last week.
“Saturday was something we thought about, but definitely being open for the holiday season in general. January is slow month and a slow time for retail, so we just thought we would get the holiday crowd,” Fields said.
Stephanie says she didn`t know what kind of response they would get, but it`s been amazing and they`re having a hard time keeping clothes on the racks.
“We were busy, we were making sales and yeah, racks are empty. We`ve got to fill them back up, but that`s a good problem to have when you sell a lot,” Fields said.
Stephanie hopes they will have some repeat customers.
“We`ve got people on Facebook and calling and texting. They are asking us to set this and that aside. They’ll say, I’ve got this on my Christmas list now. People writing on our Facebook page to their husbands, come in and buy this for me for Christmas,” Fields said.
