Shop Baltimore at the Belvedere Square Market     Kazad/Artcentron

BY KAZAD

Shop Baltimore and Celebrate small businesses on American Express Small Business Saturday

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND — On this Small Business Saturday, shop Baltimore. Baltimore has many places that will benefit tremendously from Small Business Saturday. They include restaurants, arts and craft stores, coffee stores, bars, galleries, and numerous others. Small business Saturday happens every year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. This year’s Small Business Saturday falls on November 30, 2013.

Shop Small: Shop Baltimore

Benefits of Shopping Local on Small Business Saturday

• Local small businesses give back to the community
• Local small businesses make a major economic impact
• If feels good to buy from your community
• Local small business provide better customer service
• Provides more local jobs
• Local small businesses provide greater access to product diversity
• You support the local economy
• Local small businesses create a sense of community
• Helps you avoid the Black Friday frenzy
• Your money stays local

Charles Street is one of the major streets in Baltimore with a lot of small businesses. These businesses are already preparing to make this year’s Small Business Saturday eventful for customers. They have special offers, discounts, and gifts ready for their devoted shoppers who are ready to shop in Baltimore.

One of the prominent stores on Charles Street ready for the Small Business Saturday is Beadazzled, a women-run business.  Beadazzled encourages its customers to shop Baltimore.  Customers can buy amazing jewelry made from beads and gemstones from different parts of the world.

The store has necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets amongst many others made from gemstone beads, organic beads, metal beads, glass beads, sea beads, Swarovski Crystals, African beads, and ceramic beads. Additionally, Beadazzled also offers arts and craft classes, bead jewelry making classes. It also holds popular Split Complementary Jewelry competition recently won by Aleksandra Kline. Beadazzled has stores in Washington DC and Virginia.

Small Business Saturday Ideas

In preparation for the Small Business Saturday,  has been reaching out on Facebook, reminding its customers to patronize Beadazzled and shop Baltimore on this Small Business Saturday. To encourage them, the store is offering customers the opportunity to win a $50 gift card.

“In the spirit of this event, we are giving back to you!  Anyone who visits one of our three locations and provides their email address will be entered to win a $50 gift card.  There will be a separate drawing at each location, and no purchase is required,” Beadazzled notes in a recent newsletter. Drawings will be held next week.

Not far from Beadazzled is Women’s Exchange where the campaign has always been to shop Baltimore and local. The exchange sent up more than five years ago has the objective of helping creative and industrious women and men sell their extraordinary creations.

At the Exchange, shoppers on this Small Business Saturday will find contemporary jewelry, eco- friendly art, handmade clothing, and handmade crafts that will be amazing gifts for friends and families during this holiday season. Customers who shop at the Exchange during this Small Business Saturday will not just be supporting a small business, they will also be sustaining a lot of craftspeople who survive by creating remarkable crafts and one-of-a-kind jewelry.

Local Patronage

These are just two stores that will benefit from local patronage when people shop Baltimore this Small Business Saturday. There are many other stores across Baltimore that will gain from sales during the Small Business Saturday when people shop Baltimore.

The Belvedere Square Market around York Road has many things to offer this Small Business Saturday. The important fact to remember is that when you shop Baltimore on this Small Business Saturday, you are reinvesting in your own community and helping small businesses grow because the money spent in Baltimore stays in Baltimore.

When you shop Baltimore on this Small Business Saturday, you are reinvesting in your own community and helping small businesses grow, because the money spent in Baltimore stays in Baltimore.

While other holidays shopping like Black Friday and Cyber Monday are important aspects of the holiday shopping period, buying local on Small Business Saturday is a contribution to the development of the Baltimore community. In an era when big businesses and stores are spending huge amounts on advertisements to draw large crowds to their stores, Small Business Saturday is a great initiative that will boost small businesses in Baltimore and help them grow.

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History of Small Business Saturday

Small Business Saturday began November 27, 2010, with the main purpose of helping small businesses grow. An initiative of American Express, the objective of Small Business Saturday is to encourage holiday shoppers to patronize small businesses in their locality. Since it started, Small Business Saturday has continued to grow.

Although not as popular as many of the other holiday shopping events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, participation in the Small Business Saturday continues to grow. On Facebook, Twitter, and Google, many small business owners from across the country have expressed their support for Small Business Saturday.

On Facebook, the likes have grown from about 50 thousand from a year ago to 3.2 million. Furthermore, Small business owners who have shown interest on Facebook for the Small Business Saturday continue to provide important ideas that will benefit other small businesses.

Small Baltimore businesses are counting on all of us this Small Business Saturday.  Let’s show them they are a valuable part of our communities.

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