For small businesses in Riverside and Brookfield, Small Business Saturday was an understated affair, partly due to temperatures that topped out at about 20 degrees and kept people off the streets.
Still, those businesses made do the day after Black Friday, and had some fun doing it.
Take Mike Doerr, whose title is chief executive drummer at Sound Education, 9433 Ogden Ave. in Brookfield. His store specializes in music lessons but retails guitars and other instruments.
“What we’re doing to help generate customers and sales and stuff like that is we’re actually having a coat drive this weekend,” Doerr said. “Any customer that brings in a coat, hats or gloves, we give them 15% off any item in the store.”
According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, the reported projected spending in the nation in 2023 from those who shopped at local businesses on Small Business Saturday was about $17 billion. Small Business Saturday was started by American Express in 2010 and cosponsored by the U.S. SBA since 2011.
That’s the financial part. The practical part, for Doerr, is helping his customers make the right choice for the instrument they want to play.
Sure, you can buy anything on the Internet, but what do you really get beyond the product itself, which may or may not be in good working order when it arrives?
“If you want to buy a phone or a computer or something, Amazon is great, but if you’re buying a stringed instrument, all the instruments we sell here, we look at, we put it on a bench, [get it] set up and tuned,” he said. “Right out of the store, you have something that’s playable, it’s going to stay in tune for you.
“A lot of the guitars you see shipped to you are going to be not set up and are going to have a hard time staying in tune. So, buying from us, you’ll have a technician look at the guitar, or any other instrument, before you take it home.”
Over in Riverside, at Aunt Diana’s Old Fashioned Fudge, 29 East Burlington, manager Patty Miglore said traffic had been slow Saturday, but for a good reason.
“Not with this weather,” she said Saturday morning. “Normally it is very busy, but right now … wait until the mid-afternoon, they might come out about two o’clock.”
Despite the cold, a steady stream of customers did make their way into the shop, which offers everything from tasty cookies such as Nantuckets to caramel apples to fudge houses and sleighs, and of course, lots and lots of candy.
What’s the most enjoyable thing about creating all those delectable treats?
“I made it,” Miglore deadpanned.
Business this year has been pretty good, she added. Check that.
“Very good,” she said. “We’re happy. We’ve still got jobs.”
Heading back outside, though, there was minimal foot traffic in downtown Riverside, particularly in the area near the train station and water tower. This differed from Oak Park, which offered Keep the Cheer Here, a shop-local small business event that was promoted at the website KeepTheCheerHere.org.
The event was brokered by a partnership between the village and the Oak Park-River Forest chamber of commerce, said Emily Egan, Oak Park director of development services. It included a new program where shoppers could buy gift cards to support local businesses, including retailers and restaurants.
The event was a big success, judging by local business reaction, Egan said, though it took over three months to plan out, a gambit that was “very aggressive.”
The event was brokered by a partnership between the village and the Oak Park-River Forest chamber of commerce, said Emily Egan, Oak Park director of development services. It included a new program where shoppers could buy gift cards to support local businesses, including retailers and restaurants.
The event was a big success, judging by local business reaction, Egan said, though it took over three months to plan out, a gambit that was “very aggressive.”
The Riverside Chamber of Commerce noted that its 2024 Holiday Stroll will be held on Friday, Dec. 6, with visitors able to visit businesses in Centennial Plaza/East Avenue/North Longcommon; the train station; the library and village hall; Quincy Street South; Riverside Road/Quincy Street North; and Burlington Street North and South. Horse and carriage rides will be stationed near Riverside Foods, 48 E. Burlington. A representative from the village of Brookfield Chamber of Commerce confirmed no special event was held there.
Businesses like the Brookfield Barber, 8840 Brookfield Ave., didn’t offer specials for Small Business Saturday, but owner Sarah Meyer said she made many social media posts supporting area small businesses, because it only helps her business.
“I get so excited to talk to a small business owner,” she said. “There is a lot of pressure to succeed. I see my employees as people I have to take care of, and that’s a heavy pressure.”
Lauren Zito, whose alter ego is The Razor Babe, rents a chair at Brookfield Barber, and she wholeheartedly agreed with Meyer.
“I am trying to support small businesses myself,” Zito said. “It is a make or break for some around this time of year. I even do promotion for my clients, if you buy a product from me, you get one half off. All the products I sell. I just want my clients to buy from small businesses.”