AUSTIN, Texas — The City of Austin is encouraging residents and community members to participate in Shop Small Saturday to support local businesses.
Shop Small Saturday is a holiday shopping event after Thanksgiving and Black Friday to help support the small, local businesses within a community. The annual event helps small business owners within Austin, and across the country, thrive and continue working.
“Small Business Saturday continues to be an important holiday shopping event—part of a larger effort to support small businesses throughout the year,” explained Sylnovia Holt-Rabb, director for the Economic Development Department. “We encourage Austinites to make a big impact by spending dollars locally.”
Small businesses help create jobs and improve the economy of the community they are within. According to the Small Business Administration, small businesses generated 13 million jobs over the last 25 years; they account for two out of every three new jobs added to the economy.
Austinites hoping to support their community can shop within various districts that show a variety of sides to Austin’s flourishing culture. Each of the districts provide a different range of restaurants, stores and services to fit a myriad of needs. These districts include:
The holiday was instated by American Express in 2010 and officially co-sponsored by the U.S. Small Business Administration in 2011 to help encourage residents to support their fellow community members going into the holiday spending season.