“Behind every small business, there’s a story worth knowing. All the corner shops in our towns and cities, the restaurants, cleaners, gyms, hair salons, hardware stores – these didn’t come out of nowhere.” – Paul Ryan

Many of us will look forward to Black Friday Shopping after we eat our turkey this week. With so many deals and steals, who can resist? However, you should make sure to save some of your Christmas budget for November 26^th and help celebrate Small Business Saturday.

Small Business Saturday encourages consumers to shop small and shop local. The event was first observed on November 27, 2010, and was sponsored by American Express. To this day, it is still a registered trademark of American Express and has been celebrated Saturday after Thanksgiving every year since 2010. In 2011, the United States Senate passed a resolution in support of Small Business Saturday.

The event has taken on its own life on social media through Facebook advertisements and “likes”, various hashtags such as, #SmallBizSat and #ShopSmall, and American Express sponsored ads for small business owners. According to American Express, in 2015, 95 million people went out to shop at small businesses on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

Supporting local small businesses is both good for your community and good for the business owners. Small businesses are the backbones of many communities across the country. Are you planning to celebrate Small Business Saturday this year? American Express has provided us with this handy tool that allows you to easily locate your local small businesses, just click here! Although the point of Small Business Saturday is to visit brick and mortar shops, if you are an online shopper you can still find local business on their webpages and online shops like Etsy.

Have you shopped Small Business Saturday in the past? Share your favorite small businesses and products in the comments section!