BANGOR, Maine — Between Black Friday for national retail chains and Cyber Monday for online retailers, locally owned businesses benefitted from Small Business Saturday as part of the post-Thanksgiving shopping rush.
“It’s been a very busy weekend,” said Chris Dodd, an employee at The Rock and Art Shop in Bangor. “It’s been a steady stream of people all day long.”
Several businesses in downtown Bangor reported many new and repeat customers between Small Business Saturday and Plaid Friday, the Bangor small business equivalent to Black Friday.
“It’s been a lot of excitement and a lot of support for downtown Bangor,” said Julie Baker Leaden, manager of Mexicali Blues in Bangor, one of six stores in the state. “We opened our doors a little bit earlier than usual and we’ve had customers trickling in since then.”
Because of people staying with relatives for the long Thanksgiving weekend, some locals have brought family to the downtown businesses.
“We’ve had people from California, Colorado, Maryland — it pretty much runs the whole gamut,” said Dodd. “It’s really nice to see people supporting local business. It’s a big push for us.”
Ginger Graham, a clerk at Book Marc’s, said she’s seen quite a few new customers, many of whom mentioned Small Business Saturday as a reason for stopping in the store.
“Today we’ve had a number of families stop in,” said Graham on Saturday afternoon. “Parents and adult children who came down for Small Business Saturday. Some had [items] gift wrapped and then gone and shopped at more stores and came back.”
Lori Goodine of Hudson said she decided to spend the day shopping with her mother, Gladys McCann of Bangor.
“We decided to shop at the local businesses today,” said Goodine. “We came down for Small Business Saturday to spend the afternoon together. I think it’s great. I prefer the small and quieter scene.”
Epic Sports saw an influx of customers Friday and Saturday, said Matt Bishop, associate at the family-run store.
“It’s great to see more people downtown,” he said. “It’s definitely a big difference compared to last year. I can only imagine what another year of talking about it is going to do.”
Epic Sports had its items marked at 25 percent off Friday and Saturday. Baker Leaden said Mexicali Blues was offering 15 percent off sterling silver items Saturday. Other stores also featured sales.
American Express founded Small Business Saturday in 2010, according to the credit card company’s website.
“I think it’s really good for the whole downtown,” said Baker Leaden. “We’re really excited here at Mexicali, and I think all of the stores are having a good day today.”
Two people is a flock?
You’re right two people are a small crowd, three people are a large crowd, four people are a flock, and five or more is Canadian Thanksgiving; unless you’re in Medford then two people are a flock.
Get two more and make some signs and they’ll be in the BDN every six weeks or so.
They probably wanted to get a photograph with the Small Business Saturday sign in it. Another downtown sign certainly caught some eyes on Plaid Friday: http://www.bangorbytes.com/2012/11/storefront-notice.html
What to flock, gotta love these reporters, looks like two birds to me.
I was downtown today and saw a lot more than 2 people. Remember, Saturday was all day, not just the second it took to shoot this photo.
It was great seeing all the people in the shops-crowds and even lines at the cash registers. It was kind of exciting walking around with my shopping bags, kind of like the old days before the mall was even thought of.
Oh-and as for American Express founding this Small-Business Saturday-I used cash. The less plastic used, the fewer fees for those small businesses.
Wow. Never seen a photo and a headline not match up as much as this one. Really helping Bangor’s downtown, eh BDN?
It’s not the job of reporters or photographers to “help” anyone.
You are of course correct. That was a common complaint about the media during the last presidential campaign.
No, but it is the job of story editors to make sense. This photo and headline are ridiculous together. And no, maybe it’s not their ‘job’. But I would think anyone interested in downtown Bangor – which I think the BDN is as they do a lot with the community, could not make it look ridiculous.
Talk about nit-picking…
I imagine the downtown merchants’ association doesn’t think it’s nitpicking.
I wonder how many of these nit-pickers were actually downtown helping these merchants on Saturday?
I myself only shop at thrift shops. Can’t afford to do any more than that. But I feel good about it as it helps charities and recycles.
LOL…No need to even comment…