What is Small Business Saturday and why is it important?

Small Business Saturday is a counterpart to the big retailers’ consumer events Black Friday and Cyber Monday that have worked their way into the UK shopping calendar over the last few years.

Like its bigger brothers, Small Business Saturday is a US import, but it’s a very different affair which aims to persuade consumers to spend locally in independent shops. Think of Black Friday and the mind flashes up images of baying hordes fighting their way into department stores, stripping shelves bare of cut-price flatscreen TVs. Small Business Saturday, which is usually held on the final Saturday of November, shortly after Thanksgiving, is more sedate but offers are available.

American Express, the company that helped establish the event in 2010, is offering cardholders £5 statement credit when they spend £10 or more at participating businesses between 1 and 16 December 2018. There is no limit on how many times the offer can be redeemed; it is valid for use once per participating shop.

Small retailers in the UK could certainly do with a boost as the high street reaches the end of one of its toughest years in memory, with little sign of any easing of extremely tough trading conditions.

• Shop closures jumped 17 per cent to 24,205 in the first half of the year according to the Local Data Company.
• The number of pubs fell 6.5 per cent in six months as people increasingly choose to buy alcohol from a supermarket and drink at home.
• Newsagents and clothes shops have also seen large numbers of closures thanks to falling print media sales and competition from online rivals.

If we want to keep our Southgate high street thriving, and if we want to have a real sense of community, let’s back our Southgate high street and small businesses.