Small Business Saturday Urges the Topeka Community to Shop Local

Taking place between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, this nationally recognized day urges consumers to keep their dollars local and support their small business community by simply shopping at their locally owned businesses within their community.

GO Topeka’s Entrepreneurial and Minority Business Development program, led by Glenda Washington, is supporting this effort by providing a “Shop Small Directory” that will allow customers an overview of all the Topeka community’s small businesses, along with what promotions they will be offering that day. You can pick up your directory by stopping by their office at 120 SE Sixth Ave., suite 110, after November 20, or by visiting gotopeka.com. There will also be a section in the Topeka Capitol-Journal that will feature a listing of all the businesses included.

Small business owners are encouraged to submit their entry for the directory by visiting http://bit.ly/TopCitySmallBiz before Nov. 14. It is free to advertise in this directory. To qualify, businesses must be locally owned and employ less than 50 people. The directory will break down the Topeka area by shopping regions to provide the public a better idea of the city’s overall small business landscape.

“Small Business Saturday is an important way for community businesses to promote and get their name out for the holiday season,” stated Washington, Vice President of Entrepreneurial and Minority Business Development at GO Topeka. “Our Topeka economy relies on dollars staying local. When you support the community in this way the money you spend is almost twice as likely to stay in our area, supporting everyone. So, shop local, shop small, that’s the power of all of us.”

Small Business Saturday is a national campaign founded by American Express in 2010 and became officially recognized in 2011 by the U.S. Senate. It takes place on the Saturday following Thanksgiving each year and American Express provides a Shop Small Kit for free to each of the businesses that qualify. During this day in 2015, 95 million people across the U.S. went out to shop at small businesses.

As of the end of the first quarter of 2016, Shawnee County housed 4,971 businesses with less than 50 employees, which accounts for $282,460,665 in wages paid. These stats are provided by the Kansas Department of Labor.