By Shelby Stewart-Soldan
Staff Writer
Ortonville — The Ortonville Downtown Development Authority is encouraging people to shop small for Small Business Saturday on Nov. 26.
“The holiday shopping season makes up a large percentage of sales for small businesses during the year,” said DDA Director Matt Jenkins. “So to be able to generate some excitement around small business Saturday just amplifies the season for those small businesses.
This year, the DDA will be doing ‘Scratch and Win’ cards at the participating businesses.
“All the participating stores will have scratch-off cards that consumers will have a chance to scratch off and see what they won,” said Jenkins. “It’s essentially an extension of the Downtown Dollars program, and hopefully that brings folks back to the shops this holiday season.”
In addition to scratch-off cards, it is the last day for the Oakland County Local Gems Sweepstakes. Patrons can take a photo of their favorite small business that they deem a ‘local gem’ and enter it at oakgov.com/shopsmall for the chance to win the grand prize of $1,000, or the second place prize of $500. There are also three Ortonville specific prizes of $250, $100, and $50 up for grabs through the Local Gems Sweepstakes.
“We will have a pop-up market at August Grace Interiors (449 Mill Street, Ortonville), so we will have additional retail artisans in that space,” said Jenkins. “A lot of the businesses are doing something in their stores that day also, some of them have additional pop-up activity happening in their stores.”
Small Business Saturday was created by American Express in 2010 as a way to support local retailers and small commerce shops. The idea continued and today the event is in more than 7,500 communities nationwide. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, small businesses comprise 99.9 percent of all U.S Businesses and employ 47 percent of all Americans.
“We get involved to encourage residents and regional consumers to discover Ortonville and our local businesses,” said Jenkins.
To participate, shop downtown Ortonville on Nov. 26. And follow Downtown Ortonville on Facebook for more information.