Shop Small Saturday, a day dedicated to shopping at small businesses within your community, is coming to Bellingham. Every year on the Saturday following Thanksgiving, towns across the nation celebrate their local businesses by showing support and shopping locally.
“They are the fabric of our community, when people show up, spend money and support those businesses, it keeps them around and it keeps our community really vibrant and unique,” said Nathalie Wagler, community engagement manager at Downtown Bellingham Partnership.
The Downtown Bellingham Partnership contributes to the small business community by promoting this day as an opportunity for locals to get their holiday shopping in. The shopping day will start at 11:00 a.m. and end at 8:00 p.m. in downtown Bellingham. This year the Downtown Bellingham Partnership put together a 2024 retail guide, which includes 55 retail stores in downtown Bellingham.
The event is not exclusive to the stores in the retail guide, as all small businesses are a part of and celebrated on this day. Some businesses are offering special holiday deals including Backcountry Essentials, Fringe Boutique, Green House, The Third Planet, MW Soap Works, Quicksilver Photo Lab and more.
Shopping locally impacts the circulation of money in our economy, said CJ Seitz, an advisor for the Small Business Development Center at Western Washington University.
“Offering goods and services that are needed, hiring good workers, supporting other businesses, business-to-business purchasing and being part of the glue … It creates character in our community,” Seitz said.
Rhiannon Troutman, owner of Fringe Boutique in downtown Bellingham said this day has a huge impact on the local business community. Fringe Boutique is a local retail shop specializing in women's clothing and jewelry. Troutman said they try their best to source locally and support other small businesses.
Due to the rising cost of goods and minimum wage, many small businesses rely heavily on the holiday season to bring in the majority of their revenue.
“I think a lot of businesses, but particularly small businesses, make most of our profitable revenue in the fourth quarter which includes the holidays and it’s a make or break time for a lot of businesses, mine included,” Troutman said.
Fringe Boutique will be partnering with another small business, Gennys Costume Closet, an online vintage clothing store based out of Bellingham. Genny’s will bring a rack of vintage items on sale to Fringe Boutique for Shop Small Saturday.
In addition, Fringe Boutique will partner with Urban Treasury, another local retail store, to host a pop-up in the back of their shop, which started on Nov. 29 and remain until the end of the year.
“I think a lot of local businesses understand the importance of keeping money in the community,” said Troutman.
These pop-ups coincide with the kick-off of holiday festivities, and Troutman said people can expect to see lots of holiday spirit in downtown Bellingham.
“It feels like a big, warm hug, honestly, with all of the people who come down to support small businesses…It impacts everyone because people are also staying for lunch or grabbing a coffee,” said Wagler.
Madrona Raney (she/her), is a reporter for campus life. She is a junior at WWU studying News/Editorial Journalism. She did her first year at Point Loma Nazarene University and was a reporter for them on The Point. During her free time, she enjoys traveling, being outside, making coffee, snowboarding, boating and spending time with friends and family. You can reach her at madronaraney.thefront@gmail.com.
