By Stephen Smoot
Forget Black Friday. Small businesses in small towns want to earn your business for the holidays.
Over a generation ago, big box retailers found that expanding masses of Christmas shopping humanity sought to spend the day after Thanksgiving swarming malls and shopping centers to find deals. The competitive desire of buyers melded with the opportunity to sell and thus was born “Black Friday.”
Most small businesses and mom and pop style establishments found themselves left out in the early winter cold, many unable to lure shoppers with massive discounts.
Small town business districts also lost out as customers joined the festivities.
That started to change when American Express started Small Business Saturday in 2010. Officially joined by the US Small Business Administration a year later as a sponsor, the event has grown into its own celebration – not of aggressive free for alls, but of the slower and more relaxing pace of patronizing the businesses of friends and neighbors.
Amanda Sayers, owner of Home Style on Pike Street, explained that small businesses are not just selling goods and services, but giving back as well. They are the ones, she says “supporting sports teams in the schools” and other local organizations.
Home Style has served Shinnston customers for 14 years, three in their current location. They sell a wide variety of gifts and home furnishings. This time of year, many are Christmas themed.
Sayers has also spread the word on social media and elsewhere about a similar small business promotion event happening the day before. “Plaid Friday,” Sayers shared, “is a national event . . . weaving the community together as a good alternative to Black Friday.”
Plaid Friday originated in Oakland, California, as a way to take shopping back from a hyperactive pace to one that celebrates the diversity of what local small businesses have to offer. “Plaid” refers to the different colored threads all woven together in a pleasing pattern.
Sayers described Shinnston’s downtown as ideal, saying “we have tons of shopping . . . we have a really big variety.” Additionally, the town provides ample free parking for the convenience of customers.
“People come from all over to shop in Shinnston,” she observed, adding that she gets customers who live as far away as Ohio, Pennsylvania, and even Texas.
Marla Ferree, marketing director for the Harrison County Chamber of Commerce, emphasized that those looking for the best gifts should “stay local” and “shop local.”
She added that the Shinnston business community has a special kind of dynamic, saying “I see that the businesses are there to support each other.” Ferree used an example from the movie Miracle on 34th Street, where a shop owner who did not have a requested item suggested another local business that might carry it.
Ferree said that Shinnston businesses had the same ethic and “that’s just good citizenship.”
Small businesses offer “that unique item that’s one of a kind that you can’t get on Amazon or E Bay,” she said.
Emory Oldaker, who has owned businesses in Bridgeport, has operated Pop’s and Gigi’s on Pike Street for 18 months and agrees with Ferree. He said that Shinnston “is a true small town. We never expected what it’s like in a small town where every business owner takes care of each other.”
Pop’s and Gigi’s sells Christian and patriotic themed items, such as T shirts, travel mugs, and more. They also make and sell their own candles and other products.
“The business owners down here, we don’t spend a lot of time with one another, but in a sense, we’re family.”
Their business expresses who they are as individuals, both as grandparents and as Christians. Oldaker explained, “that’s who we are as a family.”
Even in a setting such as Shinnston, however, some small businesses face the same struggles as others. Tiffany Ash has operated Ash Country Boutique on Pike Street, but says that she will have to close her doors within a month.
Ash Country Boutique sells a variety of home created and hand crafted items. “I make the shirts. I make the candles and wax melts,” she said. The boutique’s best selling products are licensed apparel from Lincoln High and Middle schools. “We have a lot of people come in for the local school gear. That’s been one of our biggest sellers.”
Outside of that, however, foot traffic has been too slow to continue having a brick and mortar presence. Ash, however, still has a number of ways to get her wares to customers. “I’ve been doing this since 2017, mainly online.” She also sells at vendor and craft shows, but took a chance on a traditional storefront earlier this year.
Despite struggling, she says that small business promotions “help build up the community.”
“We’re going to stay open online and offer local pick up,” she said, noting that “our online sales are doing better than in the store.” She remains optimistic that when conditions improve that she can reopen the store.
Owners pointed out that Pike Street provides a convenient and easily walkable way to shop, with a number of stores interspersed with eating options, convenience stores, and also a small grocery. They describe how one can “make a day of it” between checking out stores and grabbing a quick lunch.
