Skip to main content

The Manual may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site.

What is Small Business Saturday? The Black Friday Alternative

Image used with permission by copyright holder

It can be a bit hard to keep track of the days during the holiday season. No, not the days of the week, that’s another issue entirely. Rather it gets confusing what with Black Friday, which really starts on the Thursday of Thanksgiving Day (or earlier), Cyber Monday, even though you’re surely doing most shopping online this year anyway, Giving Tuesday, which is on December 1, Amazon Prime Day(s), which were in October, and on it goes.

Recommended Videos

Related Guides

This year, more than any other in recent memory, if there’s one “day” to remember it’s Saturday, November 28, which is known as Small Business Saturday. Because this year, due to the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic, tens of thousands of small businesses in the United States have closed down for good (the number was nearing 100,000 out of business as of late September when Yelp conducted a major survey).

Those massive corporations offering so-called “doorbuster” deals (aka loss leaders meant to tempt you into the store or onto the webpage) for Black Friday sales? They don’t need you to survive. Those small businesses hanging on by a thread, though, need you more than ever. This holiday shopping season is quite literally make or break for many small businesses in America.

What Is Small Business Saturday?

This year, Saturday November 28, 2020 Small Business Saturday marks its 10th year. The day was created by American Express back in 2010 with the idea of supporting smaller companies suffering during the ongoing Great Recession that had begun in 2008. One year later, in 2011, the United States Senate passed a resolution officially recognizing the day.

Sure, you can see it as a marketing stunt by AmEx, but if they stood to make money as people used their plastic to shop, the initiative did plenty of good well beyond, and besides, the company puts its money where its mouth is, spending on advertising and social media awareness campaigns and partnering with the National Trust for Historic Preservation as they grew Small Business Saturday.

So what can you do to take part? Just shop for holiday gifts from small businesses this year, and not necessarily just on Small Business Saturday. After all, it’s about the idea here, not the day; it’s not like the mom-and-pop shop on the corner or the Etsy artist can offer you 60% off sales anyway, so when you shop to support the littler guys is less important than that you shop small.

Small Business Saturday vs. Black Friday

And while technically a “small business” in the United States can have up to 500 employees if it’s in the manufacturing or mining sector and up to 100 in other fields, let’s look smaller than that, shall we?

According to American Express’s research looking at business’s with fewer than 100 employees, “62% of U.S. small businesses reported that they need to see consumer spending return to pre-COVID levels by the end of 2020 in order to stay in business.”

Every dollar you spend at a local store or small online vendor this year matters more than ever. It’s not a tall order; you were going to get gifts anyway. Make part of the process giving the gift of a lifeline to a little guy out there.

That being said, it’s okay to shop a mix of both if you can’t afford to only shop smaller businesses. We’ve found clothing sales and Black Friday kitchen deals to get you started.

Steven John
Steven John is a writer and journalist living just outside New York City, by way of 12 years in Los Angeles, by way of…
Austin Butler and Jeremy Allen White are set to face off in A24’s Enemies
The movie follows a detective and contract killer who play a game of cat and mouse.
Austin Butler in Masters of the Air.

A24 definitely knows how that one surefire way to drum up interest in its movies is to cast actors who are red hot in the industry. Now, reports suggests that the studio has done just that with Enemies, which will star Jeremy Allen White and Austin Butler as, you guessed it, enemies.

The film is described as a crime saga and comes from director Henry Dunham. The film's official synopsis says that it follows “a relentless detective and an infamous contract killer" who "collide in a deadly game of cat and mouse.” Production on the project is slated to begin this summer in Chicago.

Read more
Nobody 2: Everything we know so far
Bob Odenkirk is back for another action adventure
Bob Odenkirk in Nobody 2

Before Bob Odenkirk turned in a seminal performance of TV's prestige era playing Jimmy McGill and Saul Goodman in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, he was most known for his comedy chops. People were surprised to see him step out of his comfort zone in the world of drama television, but it helped usher in a new reputation for the veteran, everyman star.

Odenkirk got to play an action hero in 2021's Nobody, and the sequel is finally on the way. Nobody 2 might just be one of the best movies of the summer. Here is everything we know about it so far, from the cast to the trailer and the release date.
Is there a trailer for Nobody 2?

Read more
9 shows to watch if you love The Walking Dead
AMC's zombie show was a phenomenon. These shows will help you revisit that thrill
Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes in The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live.

The Walking Dead started as a niche zombie series in the early 2010s, but it built up steam and transformed into a runaway hit just a few seasons after its inception. By the middle of the decade, Robert Kirkman's post-apocalyptic series was the most popular program on basic cable TV. It revolutionized long-form storytelling and created a rabid fandom that allowed it to run for over a decade and spawn many spinoffs.

Undead monsters aren't the only thing that made The Walking Dead such a fascinating and addictive watch, though. The depth of the characters and the survivalist strategies of the entire group made for thrilling, adrenaline-filled episodes that other shows had a hard time matching. We have the best shows like The Walking Dead to watch next if you love the binge-worthiness of world-ending drama in this comic book adaptation.

Read more