Thanksgiving is on Thursday.
The holiday shopping season starts in earnest the following day, on Black Friday, with door-busting deals at many national retailers.
The next day, though, is when people are urged to shop local. The Saturday after Thanksgiving is known as Small Business Saturday, when promoters want people to opt for smaller businesses that are more likely to be locally owned.
Park City leaders this year were not asked to consider whether to formally declare Nov. 29 as Small Business Saturday. City Hall said resolutions like the one acknowledging Small Business Saturday need to be sought by a third party before being brought to the elected officials for consideration. There was no request for a resolution as in past years, according to the municipal government.
Park City Chamber/Bureau President and CEO Jennifer Wesselhoff said the organization didn’t consider a resolution this year, but may do so in the future.
The Park City Council has historically approved resolutions urging people to shop local on the day. The resolutions generally included similar language in support of small businesses.
The resolution last year touted what the elected officials at that time saw as the benefits of small businesses, including creating employment opportunities and that much of the money spent at small businesses remains in the community where it is spent.
Some of the passages from the resolution in 2024 included:
- “68 cents of every dollar spent at a small business in the United States stays in the local community and every dollar spent at small businesses creates an additional 48 cents in local business activity as a result of employees and local businesses purchasing local goods and services.”
- “59% of U.S. consumers aware of Small Business Saturday shopped or ate at a small, independently owned retailer or restaurant on Small Business Saturday 2023.”
It also said the community supports local businesses and that the elected officials in 2024 urged “residents of our community, and communities across the country, to support small businesses and merchants on Small Business Saturday and throughout the year.”
The Historic Park City Alliance, which represents businesses in the Main Street core, posted information about Small Business Saturday, inviting people “to celebrate the heart of Park City — our locally owned shops, boutiques, galleries, and restaurants that make Historic Main Street one of the most vibrant and unique districts in the West.”
“When you shop local, you’re not just checking off gifts — you’re supporting the artists, makers, and small business owners who shape our community year-round,” the Historic Park City Alliance wrote.
The Historic Park City Alliance on Nov. 29 plans to light the holiday displays on Main Street. A window-display contest on Main Street begins on Small Business Saturday as well.
The holiday shopping season typically is not as critical to Park City-area businesses as it can be elsewhere. The core months of the ski season, from December until March, are usually the most lucrative stretch of the year, as large crowds arrive in the community. Holiday shopping, nonetheless, is important to Park City businesses since it generates revenues in the weeks before the usually lucrative ski season starts in earnest around the holidays.
The national Small Business Saturday promotion dates to 2010 and was launched by American Express. The 2010 start of Small Business Saturday is of consequence since the nation at that time was struggling to emerge from the Great Recession.
The American Express website this week mapped several small businesses in the Park City area that accept its credit cards. There was a concentration in the Main Street core and in the area of Kimball Junction.
The Park City Chamber/Bureau said the majority of its businesses could be listed as small.
“Seventy percent of the membership of the Chamber of Commerce in Park City could be classified as a small business. That’s why Small Business Saturday is such an important local activation,” Wesselhoff said in a prepared statement in response to a Park Record inquiry about the day.
She said the Chamber/Bureau is promoting the Mountainkind Card, “which encourages locals to do holiday shopping at small local retailers and service providers.”
“In its first year, the program generated over $50,000 to be spent within the Park City community, and this year’s iteration of the program is off to an even faster start,” she said. “This speaks to the value locals are willing to place on shopping local and is a good sign for small business owners in the community.”
