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Health & Fitness

Small Business Saturday

As we celebrate Thanksgiving this week, it is naturally a time to gather with family and friends, and give thanks for all of the blessings bestowed upon us this year. Thanksgiving weekend is also one of the most important weekends of the year for California’s economy, as it is the traditional kickoff for the Christmas shopping season.  A survey by the Georgetown Institute for Consumer Research found most shoppers will spend more than 50 percent of their holiday budget during the Thanksgiving weekend. More often than not, Thanksgiving weekend shopping means long lines of shoppers on Black Friday and Cyber Monday bargain hunting.  In recent years, another tradition has taken root on Thanksgiving weekend, “Small Business Saturday.”  Small Business Saturday is held the Saturday after Thanksgiving – November 30th this year.  On Small Business Saturday, shoppers are encouraged to shop at the small, neighborhood retailers that play such an important role in boosting our local economy and creating jobs in the community.  Last year, more than 70 million shoppers across the country shopped at local small businesses on Small Business Saturday, generating $5.5 billion in sales. Small businesses are an important part of California’s economy, as they account for 99.2 percent of the state’s employers. To learn more about Small Business Saturday and the small businesses near you that will be participating this year, visit sba.gov/saturday orsmallbusinesssaturday.com. I wish you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving and hope you’ll join me in supporting small businesses this Saturday and every day. 

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