Perry’s Small Business Saturday sees major success

PERRY, Ga. — Small Business Saturday got its nationwide start in 2010, when American Express, a credit card company, encouraged holiday shoppers to spend some time in their locally owned businesses. In the 12 years that have followed, Small Business Saturday has expanded outside the world of branded marketing to stand on its own. Today, small businesses across the country prepare each weekend after Thanksgiving, not only for the highly anticipated Black Friday shopping, but for the Saturday that follows.

Perry, however, did things a little differently this year.

Rather than each business fending for themselves, the owners of the many businesses in the Historical Downtown Perry district and the government for the City of Perry rallied together to ensure that not only would there be foot traffic on Saturday, but those selling their crafts and wares would see some increased profits and plenty of new customers.

The Journal spoke with a number of local business owners, as well as Downtown Manager Alicia Hartley on how they put it all together, and the results from the event.

“Small Business Saturday is just one of the ways we can help promote the Downtown District, and all of the merchants, restaurants and businesses in that district, to further support the economic vitality of our Downtown District,” Hartley said. “For Small Business Saturday, we had a bingo card activity where customers, if they completed any sort of four-in-a-row for bingo, could turn their card in and redeem that for a Shop Downtown Perry tote bag.

“If they completed the entire card, all 16 spots, they could turn in their bingo card to be entered into a raffle for 250 Downtown Dollars, as well as a tote bag. That really encouraged customers to get into the shops and explore parts of downtown they may not have shopped before.”

This activity turned Small Business Saturday from an individual endeavor on the part of each individual business owner, to a group effort among the business community in Downtown Perry, with the merchants and local government working hand in hand.

“Downtown Perry was busy both Friday and Saturday this week,” Hartley reported. “I heard from the merchants that they had successful days both Friday and Saturday following Thanksgiving this year. Many of them do sales storewide, really trying to get their customers in, and promote that holiday shopping.”

The bingo card activity and shopping, however, were not the only thing attracting Perry citizens to the Downtown District. As daylight turned to dusk, the historic streets began to blaze with whites, reds, greens and yellows, as the many Christmas lights dotting the district turned on.

People gathered in the center of Downtown, surrounding Perry’s Historic Courthouse, and waited. A large Christmas tree sat within the square there, unlit.

As more people gathered in the square, Mayor Randall Walker opened the event: Perry’s annual tree lighting ceremony.

As the sky turned darker, the event was ushered in by Hartley, who announced the winner of the aforementioned raffle. Holiday hymns were performed by Cross Point Church, and Pastor Tom Carruth of Perry United Methodist Church gave a brief message on the importance of the upcoming holiday.

Finally, after a count of 10, the tree was lit. Families and friends surrounded the tree to take photos of one another, and to make merry.

Together, the bingo card activity, the tree lighting ceremony and the hard work of the many business owners in Downtown Perry made for a highly successful Small Business Saturday.

Lynn Bassett, owner of Ashley Marie’s Boutique, said that after a highly successful Black Friday sale, she still had a steady pace of customers in and out of her door all day Saturday.

“We had a fantastic day,” Bassett said. “We were so tired from Black Friday, we didn’t even know if we would make it through it, but we did. We had lots of people turn out.”

On Friday, Bassett said that her boutique had a 2 ½ hour line at 2 p.m., forcing them to shut their doors to clear what customers they already had. The line wasn’t cleared until 4:30 p.m., 30 minutes before the store’s close.

The next morning, Bassett returned to her store and found a steady pace of sales throughout the day, and crowded aisles of shoppers looking through her wares.

“Our sales were really good,” Bassett said. “It was probably one of the better Small Business Saturdays we had.”

Bassett attributes her store’s success to the customer base she’s built over the years.

Corey Jones, owner of Jones and Company, said the success of Small Business Saturday was a community effort.

“The initiatives for Small Business Saturday were wildly successful!” Jones told The Journal, via text message. “We are grateful for the community coming together to support the small businesses in our downtown.”

Small Business Saturday allowed Perry’s local businesses to see new faces, make new relationships and see additional profits. The efforts of the business owners and the Main Street Promotions Committee, who developed the bingo card activity, had an impact that will not soon be forgotten.

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