Small Business Saturday brings out shoppers, deals

The holiday shopping season’s unofficial kickoff, Small Business Saturday, saw locally-owned businesses welcome shoppers in from a rainy November morning.

Bob Schooley, owner of The Ground-A-Bout coffee shop at 107 E. Adams St. in uptown Jackson, said Saturday they’d been busy all morning.

While they’re always open Saturdays, Schooley said he thought he’d seen some fresh faces in that morning.

“I’m happy people know what it is,” Schooley said of Saturday’s event.

Next door, at 105 E. Adams, Cassi Holcomb has a holiday pop-up shop, Juneberry Collective, where she’ll display items from various artisans and crafters during December.

Holcomb said she’s looking forward to the holiday season, and offering Jackson shoppers something a little bit different.

Cape Girardeau resident Debbie Juden said she made the drive to Jackson for shopping she doesn’t get anywhere else.

“I really enjoy it,” she said of uptown Jackson’s celebration. “It’s a great way to get into the Christmas spirit.”

High Street Station was all sparkle and warmth and upbeat holiday tunes Saturday morning, as shoppers filtered in from the rain.

Co-owner Lisa Walker said while she and her sister, Lynette Strange, had several giveaways and some sale items on offer, “Mainly, [Small Business Saturday] is just giving a great big ‘thank you’ to our customers for supporting us through the year and the holiday season.”

In Cape Girardeau, Jim Maevers of Pastimes Antiques, 45 N. Main St., echoed the sentiment.

“Small Business Saturday is really good to promote small businesses, to raise awareness,” he said.

Maevers said he’d seen customers from “all over,” whether in town for the Thanksgiving holiday or shopping.

At Annie Laurie’s, 536 Broadway in Cape Girardeau, owner Laurie Everett said Small Business Saturday “is our favorite day of the year.”

Everett said several families had been in, to shop and sample cookies and coffee.

“We want them to come in, stay awhile,” Everett said.

Everett said she’d seen several people in from out of town, stopping in on the way to the football game — the first-round FCS playoff game Saturday at Southeast Missouri State University’s Houck Stadium.

“We’re really grateful for our local following, and for our visitors,” Everett said.

Haylee Dragon and Elizabeth Bottorff, both of Poplar Bluff, Missouri, said they’d made the drive in for the unique wares and ambience Cape Girardeau’s downtown has to offer.

“I like shopping local,” Bottorff said. “That’s why we came to downtown Cape, for the antique shops.”

Dragon added, “It’s important to support local businesses.”

More than 30 locally-owned businesses participated in the Cape Girardeau event, according to Old Town Cape Inc.’s social media event page.