Small Business Saturday 2025 from National Day Calendar and NBC News

Happy Small Business Saturday! I begin today's celebration with Marlo Anderson of National Day Calendar hosting SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY - Saturday after Thanksgiving.

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.

Anderson did a good job of reviewing the history of the holiday and its rationale. I would know; I've been observing Small Business Saturday since 2011, the first year of this blog and the second year of the special day.

For more detail, I turn to NBC News/NBC Select explaining How To Support Small Businesses this Small Business Saturday.

Small Business Saturday a great day to shop small — business owners say 20% of their annual revenue will come from this year's event. However, it's important to shop small businesses all year long. NBC Select reporter Zoe Malin stopped by @NBCNews Now to talk all things supporting small.

Big businesses like At Home, Kohl's, Joann, Claire's, and Target aren't the only ones affected by tariffs; small businesses might be even more affected by them. This makes tariffs a sustainability issue, since I count shopping small and local as a sustainable action.

NBC News had more to say about today on TODAY. Watch this morning's Small Business Saturday 2025: Try These Tips for Shopping Local.

Small Business Saturday is an annual shopping day that encourages consumers to support local businesses on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. NBC’s Brian Cheung joins Saturday TODAY to share tips for shopping local, how to find small businesses and more.

In addition to reinforcing the points about the importance of Small Business Saturday to small businesses, Brian Cheung and the TODAY panel previewed Cyber Monday. I'm glad they did, because I'm not observing it this year. That's because it falls on December 1st, World AIDS Day. Since the Trump Administration canceled funding for World AIDS Day commemorations after 37 years, effectively meaning it won't celebrate the day officially, I'm going to celebrate it here all the more. Priorities.

That's a wrap for both today and the string of holiday posts. Stay tuned for the Sunday entertainment feature to close out September.

Rite Aid filed for bankruptcy again, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse

I've been so busy with the News & Doc Emmy Awards, holidays, and Donald "Hoover Cleveland" Trump's authoritarian antics this month, I've been neglecting the Retail Apocalypse other than posting Company Man asks 'The Decline of Weight Watchers...What Happened?' A tale of the Retail Apocalypse (and Ozempic). In that time, three or four stories have piled up, and I feel like returning to the topic. Today, I'm revisiting Rite Aid declares bankruptcy, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse and opioid crisis and Company Man asks 'The Decline of Rite Aid...What Happened?' A tale of the Retail Apocalypse for Black Friday/Buy Nothing Day beginning with 6abc Philadelphia reporting Rite Aid returns to bankruptcy protection as it seeks to sell most assets.

Rite Aid is again seeking bankruptcy protection as the struggling drugstore chain says it will try to sell substantially all of its assets.

The company said Monday that its stores will remain open as it returns to Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.

The company said it will work to ensure that customer prescriptions are transferred to other pharmacies as it goes through the sale process. The drugstore chain has lined up from some of its lenders $1.94 billion in new financing which help fund it through the sale and bankruptcy proceedings.

6abc Philadelphia reported this news on May 6, 2025, but it was no surprise. On April 25, 2025, WHTM - abc27 News in Harrisburg, York, Lancaster and Lebanon, Pennsylvania asked What is the future of Rite Aid?

Even then, Garrick Brown, the namesake editor of The Brown Book, could see what Rite Aid's future would be, liquidation. The chain would not survive a second bankruptcy and it looks like all its stores will be closed or sold. Brown also went into more detail about where drug stores get their revenue, including beauty products, which Company Man Mike didn't focus on in 2023. I can say first-hand that Ulta and Sephora have been expanding aggressively, as I mentioned an Ulta replacing a Pier 1 location in 2020, while my wife shops at Ulta and my stepdaughter/older daughter shops at Sephora. I shouldn't be surprised that those chains are eating into drug store revenues on one side of the store while dollar stores are eroding them on the other.

Brown also discussed who would benefit from Rite Aid closing and selling stores as well as the difficulties in unloading some properties. Those are the subjects of the next two videos, which are over the jump.

Today and WXYZ examine Small Business Saturday during the pandemic

Happy Small Business Saturday, a day I've been observing since 2011, the first year of this blog!* Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the day has added importance, as Today pointed out last week in Small Business Saturday Could Be The Lifeline Local Shops Need To Survive.

Due to the coronavirus epidemic, small businesses are struggling to keep their lights on — and Yelp says 60% of businesses that shut down during COVID-19 will remain permanently closed. As NBC’s Catie Beck reports for Weekend TODAY, Small Business Saturday could be the lifeline local shops and restaurants need to stay afloat.

I focus a lot on major retail and restaurant chains when I write my tales of the Retail Apocalypse, but permanently losing 60% of small business that shut down during the pandemic is at least as catastrophic; it's just that a national audience doesn't know the individual business like they do JCPenney, Sears, and KMart.

Today continued its coverage this morning with Best Ways To Shop Local On Small Business Saturday.

NBC News senior business correspondent Stephanie Ruhle joins Weekend TODAY with tips to shop on Small Business Saturday and support local businesses. One thing she suggests is buying gift cards for places like restaurants and yoga centers to be used later.

Stephanie Ruhle is right about the importance of small local businesses. When the current crisis is over, we will want them to be there when we need them.

That's the national story. Follow over the jump for the local one from WXYZ. I may have a national readership, but this is still a Metro Detroit-based blog.

'Shop Small' on Small Business Saturday 2016

Happy Small Business Saturday!  It's no secret I don't like Black Friday, calling it Buy Nothing Day instead, but I do support the idea of making the economy more local and sustainable, so I like Small Business Saturday.  So does the Obama Administration, as Maria Contreras-Sweet, administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration, states in Wall Street Journal's After Black Friday, Go Small on 'Small Business Saturday.'

Small Business Saturday, nestled between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, puts the spotlight on the nation's 28 million shops along Main Street. Maria Contreras-Sweet, administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration explains the vital role small businesses play in local communities and how companies like Uber and American Express are providing incentives for consumers to shop small.

I hope Trump finds someone at least half as competent to take her position.  As competent?  Sorry, I'm too realistic.

Since today is about local small businesses, this entry wouldn't be complete without some local examples.  Follow over the jump to watch WXYZ's videos promoting small businesses in Wyandotte, a community I use as an example of a walkable neighborhood in my classes.*

Small Business Saturday 2015

It's Small Business Saturday again, so it's time for me to report how well American Express's effort to promote local small business is going.  If nothing else, WXYZ in Detroit is doing its best to feature the day.  Yesterday, the station featured Michigan products sold at Abundant Living in Wyandotte in Small Business Saturday.

Pam Riley from Abundant Living talks about how you'll be supporting the local economy by shopping on Small Business Saturday.

Another Wyandotte business, Total Health Foods, was featured this morning in Shop small on Small Business Saturday.

The day after Black Friday is always Small Business Saturday, and you're encouraged to shop small today.

Both stores in Wyandotte feature a lot of Michigan foods, which cuts down on fossil fuel use and transportation costs.  Not only are the customers shopping locally, the business are, too.  Keep up the good work.