TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) - While Black Friday is over, local stores took over the shopping day Small Business Saturday and say it was successful, shoppers say they were out for more than just deals.
"I am here to shop for myself, for some Christmas presents, but mainly to support Small Business Saturday," said Elisa Salgado while shopping on 4th Ave.
That was the sentiment for many shoppers today - supporting small business. Signs lined the street exclaiming "Shop Local" and "Shop Small".
"Keeping it in our community and not giving it to the big box stores and franchises," said Connie Halkowitz.
Many of the stores along 4th Ave had special deals for the popular shopping day. Many hoping to attract customers, some just returning the favor for shoppers coming into their stores.
"Part of us having this is, people are going to come so why don't you offer them something? We're doing 20 percent off the whole store," said JR Harrison, co-owner of Generation Cool.
Harrison says his customers told him they appreciate their work as small business and prefer coming to a local store instead of a franchise.
With so many shoppers, businesses owners and managers say the day was a success. One manager said her store was doing about double the business they would on a normal Saturday. Jessica Wilson, manages Creations on 4th, she says this weekend they brought in about a third of their entire month's goal.
"This weekend we're expecting to do $18,000 which for a month we're goaled at $60,000, so this is a really big part of our business," said Wilson.
The streetcar also made it easy for shoppers to get local businesses today, offering free rides.
Some say its one reason they came, other say it helped them move around from store to store.
"It was free and that really encouraged us," said Ray Pesavant.
"You can not only go to the downtown area but you can come to the 4th [Ave] and the college," said Halkowitz.
One other reason some people said they came to shop locally, they prefer small businesses to big box stores and there are items sold locally that you cannot find in a corporate location.
