Last year, the second year of American Express’s “Small Business Saturday,” over 100 million consumers participated. Scheduled this year for Saturday, November 24th, it’s a perfect day for comics and game stores to promote their offerings in contrast with Black Friday, which focuses on mass merchants, and Cyber Monday, which focuses on e-commerce sites. 

American Express and corporate supporters provide national marketing promoting the event; local organizations such as Chambers of Commerce give local support; and American Express (and companies such as Constant Contact) provide a variety of tools to help individual stores capitalize on it. Using the slogan “Shop Small,” consumers are encouraged to shop at locally owned businesses on the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend, an important shopping day early in the holiday season, as a way to support the local community.  Retailers interested in participating can check out the information on the American Express Website.