Bussiness
‘Spending Time’: Is Small Business Saturday still an effective holiday in Greater Lafayette?
LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Midnight door busters, waiting in lines on Thanksgiving evening for cheap electronics, throwing elbows over a Tickle Me Elmo: Those days of Black Friday shopping are largely behind us in a post COVID-19 pandemic world.
But although big-box store shopping has migrated heavily to online traffic, and with Black Friday encompassing the entire month of November, where does that leave small businesses, which largely rely on in-person shopping?
Small Business Saturday, a holiday originally invented by American Express in 2010 as the United States’ economy began emerging from its recession, has traditionally encouraged shoppers to consider their local stores during the big spending season.
Meanwhile, in 2024, Americans continue to struggle with inflation amid general living costs continuing to increase, leaving shoppers cautious with their spending.
Greater Lafayette is known for its strength in small businesses, particularly as the backbone of downtown Lafayette, many of which continued to thrive through the pandemic despite uncertainties. Given the changing landscape of holiday shopping, it’s fair to wonder.
Is Small Business Saturday still working for Greater Lafayette’s small businesses?
Mimicking Black Friday is unrealistic
Standing behind the checkout counter of Main Street Books, at 426 Main St., owner Laura Kendall understands that shoppers are nervous heading into the holidays.
But small business owners, she said, are scared, too.
“We get that people don’t necessarily have as much money to spend,” Kendall said. “That’s why it’s like, if you’re going to spend money, if you could do it at local places, that’d be great. There are a lot of local places where majority of their sales are in November and December.”
Offering a discount this Small Business Saturday, Nov. 30, is something Kendall said she’s really toiled over. In previous years, she said she’s offered 10% off in her store. But given that her overall sales have been down for November, she’s hesitant to offer that once again.
Rather than offer a blanket discount, Kendall said she will likely offer a free travel mug with purchases over $50 alongside a clearance sale on gently used books. At her other location, Second Flight Books, at 2122 Scott St., Kendall said she’ll offer $1 clearance books.
“Last year we didn’t really hold any special sales, and our sales numbers were OK, but we know we need to do a little bit more of a push this year at Second Flight,” Kendall said. “At Main Street Books, we just don’t really have the room to do that big of a sale over here.”
Small Business Saturday has been one of her biggest sales days historically, Kendall said, but part of that is because of patrons waiting until that singular day to do their book shopping.
Nolan Willhite, co-owner of Flora Candle Company, at 609 Main St., and leader of the Downtown Lafayette Business Owners Association, said in a recent meeting with local business owners ahead of Small Business Saturday, the majority expressed to him that the annual holiday weekend days were their biggest sales dates of the entire year.
“In the past, a lot have tried to offer special discounts and deals to mimic Black Friday, but that’s not what I feel like Small Business Saturday is anymore,” Willhite said. “We should be patronizing these businesses as they are.”
When it comes to pricing books, Kendall said her margins aren’t as simple to work with compared to big box and online retailers. The majority of that comes down to the ability to bulk-buy.
“Bigger companies are able to get lower prices on everything. I can’t buy 50 copies of a book like they can,” Kendall said. “If I did, that would be the only book I have on an entire shelf. I don’t have a warehouse to store hundreds of copies.”
During 2023’s shopping season, the first for Flora Candle Company after Willhite opened the storefront alongside his partner, Troy Weber, Willhite said rather than offering a discount, the store owners opted to create more of an event. Hosting a “Sip and Shop,” customers could enjoy a light beverage and enter for a chance to win a gift basket filled with items from other local businesses.
Looking to this Small Business Saturday, Willhite said they will like do something similar, offering goodie bags to the first 10 shoppers through their doors.
“We make everything ourselves, but our markup isn’t what it should be. Any other candle competitor we have, we are still lower cost with the same or better ingredients,” Willhite said. “We aren’t making a ton of money off of our product, either. I’ll mark down some things I know I’m sitting on, but this won’t be like getting 60% off of a new TV.”
Thriving downtown, despite stereotypes
Looking at the shopping day as a whole, Willhite said he believes Small Business Saturday is still effective for Greater Lafayette, even 14 years and one global pandemic later.
Despite the holiday’s success, there is one thing he said he still gets customers to understand: parking.
“A lot of people still have that stigma that if they come downtown there is nowhere to park, but all of the parking garages are a block from Main Street, and they’re free on the weekends,” Willhite said. “If you take a map of the Tippecanoe Mall and lay it over downtown, the mall is actually longer than it is from Second Street all the way to 11th Street, but people don’t think twice about walking the mall.”
Simply parking once, patrons are able to sip a beverage, find a one-of-a-kind gift, enjoy a meal or a sweet treat and enjoy the scenery of Lafayette’s downtown, Willhite said, which is why he wouldn’t want to have his candle making business anywhere else.
One thing that has continued to draw shoppers into downtown year-round, Willhite said, has been an increase in events by the Downtown Lafayette Business Owners Association. Looking at the annual Merry Main Street event, hosted on Dec. 14 this year, Willhite said the 2023 event saw over 5,000 shoppers in downtown Lafayette, with several business owners saying it was a record-breaking sales day for them.
Downtown shopping is what makes Lafayette stand out among other cities, Willhite said, something he sees when traveling around the Midwest with Weber. When it comes to shopping during the holidays, he said it’s easy to find Lafayette’s downtown meeting a certain aesthetic for the experience holiday shoppers are seeking, with decorated windows and newly strung lights zig-zagging across Main Street.
“Downtown Lafayette is one densely populated area that offers so much, and we are so fortunate,” Willhite said. “When people ask me what my favorite thing about Lafayette is, I always say it’s our downtown. It’s what kept us here in Lafayette originally, and it’s why we’re still here today.”
Jillian Ellison is a reporter for the Journal and Courier. She can be reached via email at jellison@gannett.com.
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