People encouraged to shop locally on Small Business Saturday

MOBILE, Ala. (WPMI) — Whether it’s candles, clothes, or hotdog-shaped stuffed animals, Nikki Setterstrom says you can find the perfect holiday gift at Urban Emporium on Dauphin Street. It’s a store with a variety of sellers and what Setterstrom calls “Mobile makers.”

“Everyone in here is locally owned, but there’s a lot of things that are locally made,” said store director Setterstrom.

“We don’t believe that holiday shopping should be a contact sport. For the retailers down here, it is personalized. It is individualized. It’s a pleasant experience,” said Downtown Mobile Alliance Communications Director Carol Hunter.

People are encouraged to shop locally on Small Business Saturday. It’s an annual nationwide U.S. Chamber of Commerce campaign.

“It encourages individuals to shop locally and support their local small businesses,” said Mobile Chamber VP Small Business Development Darrell Randle.

To help support that effort not just on Saturday but throughout the holiday season, the Mobile Chamber has released a Holiday Gift Guide featuring 30 local small businesses:

2024 Mobile Chamber Holiday Gift Guide

“We encourage individuals to shop locally because those dollars directly impact our economy. In other words, when you spend money locally, those business owners are part of your community. They’ll go out and they’ll go to the same places you go to, the same churches, the same schools, the same restaurants, and they’ll participate in spending those dollars locally,” said Randle.

“Every dollar you spend with a local retailer gets circulated several times in our local economy,” said Hunter.

An economy that depends on people coming through the door to shop.

“Downtown has a bigger variety than I think people realize,” said Setterstrom. “It is full of retail that I don’t think a lot of people know about.”

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, Alabama has more than 449,000 small businesses, which make up 99.4% of all businesses in the state. These businesses employ more than 802,000 Alabamians, representing 46.7% of Alabama’s workforce.