Mix Reviews for Small Business Saturday

Whatsit & Doohickey Co., a toy store in downtown Libertyville, says Thanksgiving weekend sales were the best the store has seen since it in December 2009.

"The figures that we did on [Thanksgiving weekend] was equivalent to most of our Fall weekend sales," said Ben Pogvara, assistant manager at the store, "And that's including [sales] from last Christmas season."

Brian Sykes, a co-owner of the store, says the boost in sales was in part thanks to Small Business Saturday, a promotion organized by American Express to encourage shopping local.

American Express offered a $25 statement credit to cardholders who shopped at small, independent businesses on Nov. 27.

"Fifteen to 20 percent of customers on that Saturday came because of Small Business Saturday," Sykes said.

The toy store had at least five customers who were American Express cardholders that referenced the promotion, according to Pogvara.

Slow Saturday

The promotion, however, was a miss with other local businesses.

Charley Colette, owner of Parkview Gourmet Inc., a gourmet market on Cook Avenue, says he also advertised on Facebook but only had five customers that day.

"There were more people in box stores. It wasn't for small business and I didn't see more customers than regular," Colette said, "Plus a lot of people were out of town."

The promotion may have been a mix bag for stores partly because some are point-of-purchase stores, whereas others are service-oriented businesses. In addition, some business owners wondered if customers even knew about the event.

"I had signs up but no one asked about Small Business Saturday," said John Timony, owner of on Milwaukee Avenue. "The traffic we did get was probably because of the momentum that carried through [Thanksgiving] weekend."

Food for Thought

Even though business was slow that weekend, Timony says he is appreciative of American Express for initiating an event to promote small businesses.

Timony is waiting for feedback on the national level to see if the promotion is influential enough to impact when local organizations, such as Shop 60048, a volunteer group dedicated to educating people on the benefits of shopping local, hosts events during the holiday season.

"[The promotion] gives us food for thought about whether we should move the Holiday Stroll to coincide with Small Business Saturday," said Timony, a founder of Shop 60048, which held the Holiday Stroll in mid November to raise awareness of shopping local.