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Shop local on Small Business Saturday
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Executive Director of Main Street McMinnville Jennifer Flatt Meredith, Vanilla Bean Baking Co. owner Sally Roberson and Chamber employee Lakelinn Simmons look at the promotional supplies during the Christmas Shopping List kickoff breakfast on Friday.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are important dates in the holiday shopping season. Sandwiched between them is an equally important shopping event, Small Business Saturday. Spon-sored by American Express, Small Business Saturday is intended to encourage shoppers to find bargains while also supporting the local economy and small business owners who are their neighbors in the community.

Small Business Saturday is this Saturday, Nov. 26. This year, the McMinnville – Warren County Chamber of Commerce and Main Street McMinnville have teamed up to launch a month-long small-business promotion tied in with Small Business Saturday. The Christmas Shopping List promotion, sponsored by Security Federal Savings Bank, started Nov. 18 and will run through Dec. 17. Customers who wish to participate will receive a shopping list which can be acquired at the Chamber or at participating businesses. The list will include all the businesses where customers can receive a sticker with a purchase of at least $10. Only one sticker can be earned per list, per location during each visit, but there is no limit to how many lists each customer is allowed to fill. For every five businesses customers check off the list with a sticker, they will earn one entry for the grand prize, a gift basket featuring gifts and gift cards from many of the participating businesses. On Small Business Saturday only, spending $10 or more will get a special gold sticker. The gold sticker will earn an extra entry for the grand prize. Posting on social media and tagging the business, Main Street McMinnville and the Chamber of Commerce will also get a bonus entry. 

American Express estimates that customers have spent a total of over $120B at small businesses on Small Business Saturday over the past 10 years. The campaign was launched in 2010 to help inspire shoppers to shop in their own communities during the Christmas season. “When customers shop locally, the money stays here and helps people they may go to church or school with or see at the grocery store,” said Jennifer Flatt Meredith, executive director of Main Street McMinnville.

While it’s easy to spend a day shopping on Main Street, the organizers of the contest felt a need to expand the promotion to last a month to enable shoppers to support as many locally owned businesses as possible across the entire county. “While we value and love our downtown partners, the Chamber is about more than just downtown businesses. We have members from all over the county and we encourage shoppers to seek them out and support their neighbors who own businesses and support the local economy,” said Interim Chamber President Melissa Mullins. 

The Southern Standard is proud to participate in the promotion and there’s no better time to take advantage of that and knock a business off the list than during the newspaper’s Black Friday Week promotion when year-long subscriptions will be at their lowest price of the year. While supplies last, all customers will receive a free 2023 calendar focusing on Warren County history as well as a Christmas Shopping List sticker when purchasing a new or renewed subscription.

At the end of the promotion, shopping lists should be turned in to the Chamber or emailed to mainstmcminnville@gmail.com. The deadline to turn lists in is Tuesday, Dec. 20.

Contact the Chamber at (931) 473-6611 or Main Street McMinnville at (931) 506-5335 for more details.