Small Business Saturday Highlights Local Entrepreneurs

american express started the tradition to remind communities about their local businesses

FARGO, N.D. — Before Cyber Monday comes around, small businesses around the F-M area are making sure people remember them during the holiday season.

Some say small businesses are the backbone of small towns.

“You have to have small businesses to function in a town,” said Darla Julin, owner of Fantasies in Frosting.

Julin says people tend to forget that on Black Friday.

American Express started Small Business Saturday to help local entrepreneurs show that their establishments matter too.

Places like Fantasies in Frosting offered all kinds of deals.  One included giving away free measuring cups with a $5 or more purchase.

Some customers shop on Small Business Saturday every year because they know what it’s like.

“I think it’s super important to support small businesses. We own our own small business back in Rochester and so anytime Black Friday weekend comes around, we try to go out and support the small businesses as well,” said Candace Granberg.

Wired Up! Creative Wire Design uses the support to help people throughout the community.

Anytime someone purchases wire art from the business, part of the purchase goes towards brightening someone else’s day.

“There’s a bunch of different categories that people can choose from and then I match up a recipient from that category and then just give anything from hair care, manicure, pedicure, massages,” said Carol Seefeldt, owner of Wired Up! Creative Wire Design. “It can be flowers for someone in the hospital.”

Seefeldt started the idea when she opened her studio in 2002.

“It’s just that I know I helped somebody, make their day. It doesn’t even need to go any farther than that,” Seefeldt said.

Some say it’s not that people shouldn’t support big corporations.  It’s that people should help one another thrive.

“I think a healthy mix of both is important just for the productivity of the whole country but for small businesses, especially if we want people to keep being successful and follow their dreams, we should be supporting them,” Granberg said.