Small Business Saturday from the Small Business Administration, KDKA, and National Day Calendar

Happy Small Business Saturday! I begin today's celebration, as I did six years ago, with a message from the U.S. Small Business Administration, #ShopSmall on Small Business Saturday, November 25!

Small businesses power America's economy. Support the job creators in your community and #ShopSmall on Saturday, November, 25 and throughout the holiday season.

While U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman isn't talking, that's her shopping in the preview image. Nice cameo!

KDKA (CBS Pittsburgh) interviewed SBA District Director Dr. Kelly Hunt in Small Business Saturday remains a big spending day for Americans.

Black Friday is almost over, but that doesn't mean holiday shopping is done. As KDKA-TV money editor Jon Delano reports, Small Business Saturday may be overtaking Black Friday as a big spending day for American consumers.

Dr. Hunt made such a good point about money being spent at a small local business staying in the community using the example of Little League or other youth sports sponsorships that I watched the video again just to hear it.

I conclude with National Day Calendar's new video for the day, SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY | November 25th - National Day Calendar.


Here's the description from the website.

Small Business Saturday reminds us of the prime shopping opportunities right in our own communities. Not only do the small businesses where we work, live, and play offer numerous gift-giving possibilities, they are hands-on and ready to complete your shopping list with quality, thoughtful gifts.

Every year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, the Shop Small movement energizes small business owners to prepare for customers in every way possible. That includes the traditional brick-and-mortar customer and the online shopper. The single-day event continues to grow each year. That means business owners are ready for you to shop their stores!

Small businesses feed our communities. They keep our main streets thriving and employ nearly half of the American workforce. Supporting small businesses means you're supporting your local economy, local business, tax base, schools, and infrastructure. Your holiday shopping will put food on the tables of people you know.

You will be doing your community some good, and you will also be finding quality gifts. Small businesses take pride in their work. They've worked hard for their dream, and it shows in their craftsmanship.

Remember, shop small and local!

Rite Aid declares bankruptcy, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse and opioid crisis

I closed UAW strike enters second month, a driving update by telling my readers "stay tuned for a retail apocalypse update tomorrow, as Rite Aid has declared bankruptcy." Time to follow through with Yahoo Finance reporting Rite Aid bankruptcy complicated by opioid lawsuits, debt.

Rite Aid (RAD) has officially filed for bankruptcy while struggling with piling debt and ongoing opioid lawsuits. Yahoo Finance’s Josh Schafer reports on this story and deep dives into the unique nature of this particular Chapter 11 filing for the chain pharmacy.

The Retail Apocalypse and the opioid crisis finally cross paths. After all the years I've written about both, it was time I saw it happen. ABC News has more on that intersection in Rite Aid files for bankruptcy.

The company, which reportedly has billions of dollars in debt and is facing more than 1,000 lawsuits claiming it filled illegal prescriptions for painkillers, will close hundreds of stores.

It's not just individuals suing Rite Aid, but the Department of Justice pursuing legal action over filling illegal prescriptions. Ouch.

KDKA/CBS Pittsburgh emphasized the effect of the bankruptcy on workers and customers in Several local Rite Aid stores to close after company files for bankruptcy.

Rite Aid, a Philadelphia-based pharmacy company, has filed for Chapter 11 reorganization.

I expect to be writing about store closures in the near future. This probably won't affect me. I haven't been in a Rite Aid for years and stopped shopping there regularly when I moved out of Ann Arbor at the end of the last century. I couldn't even say where the nearest Rite Aid is to me, but I can tell you where the nearest Walgreens and CVS are. I shop there now.

Finally, CNBC looked at the responses of drug stores to new competitors in Rite Aid files for bankruptcy.

CNBC's Gabrielle Fonrouge joins 'Power Lunch' to discuss Rite Aid filing for bankruptcy and what went wrong.

CVS and Walgreens have decided to become healthcare providers as much as retailers. My wife, who alerted me to this story, and I just got our flu, COVID-19, and RSV shots at Walgreens last month and we weren't alone.

That's it for today's installment of the continuing saga of the Retail Apocalypse. I plan on returning to Jim Jordan running for Speaker, which is turning into another Groundhog Day. Stay tuned.

Six more weeks of winter as major storm strikes on Groundhog Day

Happy Groundhog Day! I begin with WLTX in Columbia, South Carolina reporting Groundhog Day 2022 Prediction: Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow.

Punxsutawney Phil has emerged from his burrow to forecast there will be six more weeks of winter. The spectacle that is Groundhog Day at Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, was back to full status.

I'm not surprised. It would be difficult to predict an early spring when a major winter storm stretching from New Mexico to Maine is dropping snow and ice across the country. At least the crowd watching was enthused enough to chant "Six more weeks." I guess they're just happy to be in person during the pandemic after last year's scaled-down ceremony.

Normally, I'd check Phil's prognostication against that of Woody the Woodchuck in Howell, Michigan because she's more accurate and it's local, but Winter Storm Landon, as The Weather Channel calls it, has other plans as MLive reported Winter says, ‘Not yet.’ Snowstorm delays Woody the Woodchuck’s Groundhog Day prediction.

Winter promises to make its presence known on the very day Michigan’s official groundhog was set to weigh in on the possibility of the season’s early end.

Woody the Woodchuck’s annual prediction has been delayed because of the impending snowstorm, the Howell Nature Center announced in an email on Feb. 1, Groundhog Day eve.

The announcement said the center made the “difficult decision” under the guidance of Woody and its meteorological expert, now that a winter storm warning is in effect for Livingston County and most of southern Michigan.

The in-person event has been rescheduled for 7:30 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 5.

I bet Woody's handler will say Michigan will have six more weeks of winter on Friday, too.

Speaking of Winter Storm Landon, check out the preview image for WGALTV's Weather planner for central Pennsylvania on Groundhog Day.

Here's your central Pennsylvania weather planner for Groundhog Day!

Metro Detroit is in the middle of the storm path and we're due for a lot of snow. Again, check out the preview image for WDIV/Click on Detroit's Metro Detroit weather forecast Feb. 1, 2022 -- 11 p.m. Update.


Piles of snow! Just based on the forecast, hundreds of schools closed in advance of the storm, including the college where I teach, although I'm running my classes remotely, so my class today is still meeting over Zoom. No snow day for me today!

I close with KDKA/CBS Pittsburgh asking oes Groundhog Day Also Predict Political Races?

KDKA's Jon Delano takes an interesting look back at whether Punxsutawney Phil's weather prognostications also impact political races.

The answer is sort of, and apparently only for Pennsylvania. I'm not impressed.

KDKA and WOOD-TV on Small Business Saturday

Happy Small Business Saturday! KDKA CBS Pittsburgh has an overview of the day in Survey: Half Of Americans Plan To Shop On Small Business Saturday.

More Americans than ever say they will spend money at a small neighborhood business on Small Business Saturday.

Millennials strongly support small, locally-owned businesses, while Boomers are only lukewarm about them. Millennials also support minority-owned businesses, which WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids featured in Grand Rapids event to showcase Black-owned small businesses.

The holiday shopping season is about to officially kickoff with Black Friday and Small Business Saturday. (Nov. 25, 2021)

Here's to the event succeeding in promoting small, minority-owned businesses in Grand Rapids! As for the rest of us, "shop small" and "eat local."