small business saturday

Courtney McGee column.

Shops in downtown Bel Air reported a strong presence of customers on Small Business Saturday even with rainy and chilly weather.

Holiday shoppers know about Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday. Now, museum stores want to snag a day of their own.

Thanksgiving Weekend is busy in Bel Air, elsewhere in Harford

More than 50 million consumers are expected to shop this Saturday, Nov. 24 specifically to support small, local businesses on what has become known as Small Business Saturday. Carroll County, for the third straight year, is offering its passport program to incentivize patronizing local businesses.

Business owners of the Fairground Village Shopping Center in Westminster are hosting a Small Business Saturday event with a prize worth more than $800.

Two Towson shopping centers, Towson Town Center and The Shops at Kenilworth, are gearing up for busy holiday shopping on Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and later in December at Kenilworth, there will be "Procrastinators Night."

As the unofficial kickoff of the holiday shopping season approaches, retail business owners in historic Ellicott City are gearing up for Shop Small Saturday on Nov. 24.

Much like Small Business Saturday, we’d like to encourage folks to think a little more locally when making a donation to a charitable cause on Giving Tuesday.

Coverage of annual Festival of Trees and Small Business Saturday in Bel Air.

Consumers shop at small and independent retailers on Small Business Saturday, the holiday after Black Friday created eight years ago by American Express.

While many of us crashed on sofas and chairs doing our best to sleep off tryptophan served up with turkey, others had another itch to scratch — the urge to shop.

For the second year, small businesses in Carroll will hand out passports encouraging residents to explore local offerings during Small Business Saturday.

There are plenty of reasons to shop local, small businesses this Saturday and year-round.

A list of Small Business Saturday events in communities around Baltimore.

Towson area business owners, chamber, encourage residents to "shop small" this holiday season with promotions at small businesses in Towson and beyond.

After last year's flood, Ellicott City merchants looking toward Small Business Saturday, which falls immediately after Thanksgiving.

Celebrate Catonsville's quaint charm on Small Business Saturday, Nov. 25

A British tea spot is opening in the former home of the Green Onion Market.

After four months of raking out mud and rebuilding, Sally Fox Tennant joined about 70 other business operators on the historic street Saturday for the official reopening of downtown Ellicott City.

Events are scheduled in shopping districts around Maryland to lure people who are looking to spend their money at locally owned establishments on Small Business Saturday.

Small Business Saturday will be celebrated Saturday, November 26 throughout Carroll County at 90 small businesses with a passport program.

If Black Friday or Cyber Monday don't sound appealing, perhaps Small Business Saturday will.

JG Sassy will offer the following discounts through Monday, Nov. 28: 30 percent off jeans; 30 percent off cashmere sweaters; 50 to 60 percent off Saint James,

Nov. 26

Westminster hosts holiday parade while others organizations make plans for holiday season

It has evolved into the biggest single day for sales in the holiday season for some independent businesses, and one of the biggest days for others. Increased shopper traffic – much of it generated by publicity from the giant credit card issuer and by community and business associations -- pays off in other ways too. It attracts new customers who otherwise wouldn't think to patronize smaller shops and reminds residents about locally owned shops in their own backyards.

With Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday out of the way, the headlong rush to Christmas is under way.

Downtown Bel Air was bustling with holiday shoppers Saturday as people took advantage of post-Thanksgiving deals and made an effort to patronize independently-owned businesses for Small Business Saturday.

The "Shop Small" campaign started six years ago as an American Express-created "holiday" to get consumers to think about patronizing, independent local establishments during the Black Friday weekend. This year, neighborhoods and businesses throughout the Baltimore region participated in special events and promotions.

This Saturday, Harford County's small businesses want to offer shoppers something big-box stores and online retailers can't: an experience.

Businesses were working hard to get customers to their stores, at a time when Black Friday gets diluted by online shopping, new "holidays" like Small Business Saturday and more scattered opening times.

Local shops, restaurants push for residents to shop local

While we shop the big box stores and places like Amazon.com as much as anyone, we think the idea of tomorrow's Small Business Saturday could be the most important to observe.

Make charitable giving a higher priority than discount shopping this year

Don't forget that Nov. 28 is small business Saturday. Show your support of the terrific individual businesses in the historic district by doing some shopping there — that day or any one soon.

Why not give yourself the gift of quality, affordable health care?

A bookshop and a boutique both opened this fall on Ellicott City's historic Main Street, adding to the mix of retail in time for the launch of the holiday shopping season.

Kids home from school, and some adults home from work, might not have ventured out into the Laurel streets lightly dusted with snow, but the weather Monday was just right for Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot to do some holiday shopping.

Shopping holidays have their place, but the business textbook basics – quality product, effective promotion, prominent placement and reasonable price – will always carry the day when it comes to attracting and keeping customers, long after the hype has faded.

Cathi Mielke, a committed Black Friday shopper, got a slightly earlier start this year than in prior years.

Holiday shoppers came out in force to support historic Ellicott City's shops this weekend for Small Business Saturday.

I got a taste of Harford County's holiday spirit Sunday, and lo, it was good.

Despite extra time to shop as more retailers opened for business on Thanksgiving Day, consumers spent less money this year during the first four days of the official start of the holiday shopping season, according to figures released Sunday by the National Retail Federation.

Scores of independent merchants in the Baltimore area did their part Saturday to get the "Shop Small" message out for the fourth annual Small Business Saturday. American Express launched the initiative four years ago to help small shops compete with national chains and online sellers during the traditional kickoff weekend to the holiday retail season.

Harford County holiday shoppers may have flooded local retailers Thanksgiving evening and Friday morning for traditional Black Friday sales, but there will be plenty of great pre-Christmas deals to choose from in the shops along the main downtown streets of Bel Air, Aberdeen and Havre de Grace during Small Business Saturday.

Experts predicted that 33 million Americans planned to go shopping on Thanksgiving Day, and Baltimore-area shoppers were no exception. Many Marylanders hit the stores in between Thanksgiving dinners and the nighttime Ravens-Steelers game.

Free activities and shoppers' specials on Main Street