Crowd sparse for Macon's Small Business Saturday

Small Business Saturday drew a small number of customers to downtown Macon.

The nationwide event, conceived and heavily promoted by American Express, is intended to do for small businesses what Black Friday does for large retailers. But despite many Macon businesses offering specials, parking spaces were plentiful throughout downtown Saturday morning.

There were no anxious customers waiting to barge through the door of Robinson Home when owner Will Robinson opened. He said that while most people talk about supporting small businesses, when it comes to handing over dollars they tend to go with the cheapest and easiest choice. That usually means big-box stores and shopping online.

"People love the idea of small business and shopping local, but when it comes down to it the vast majority of sales are not with local businesses," he said. "As a small-business owner, it's tough to compete with somebody who has a multi-million dollar marketing budget, or who has close ties and buys directly from the manufacturer."

He was hopeful, though, that sales would pick up as the day went on because he actually did well on Small Business Saturday last year. Robinson sells high-end kitchen items, including a $150 teak cutting board. He said the reason to choose small businesses is the personal service and that the money stays in the area rather than going off to corporate headquarters somewhere else.

Chad Davis, of Macon, was shopping in the store with his wife and their two daughters. They had heard about the Small Business Saturday promotion and were planning to try several stores downtown.

Damon Allen, owner Cherry Street Cycles, said about midmorning that he hadn't seen a customer yet. That wasn't unexpected, he said, because it typically is slow the Saturday after Thanksgiving when people are still out of town for the holiday. Because of that, he didn't even open the barbecue restaurant he runs adjacent to the bicycle shop.

"Business is good for us downtown, but not this weekend," he said.

One place that was doing well shortly after it opened was Wear, a nonprofit thrift clothing store that benefits the homeless.

Christina Murray, a junior marketing student at Mercer, was there buying some clothes. She is working on a research project about small-business marketing. She works for Amanda's Cakery downtown and was planning to check out the specials at other businesses as well.

"Because I work for a small business, I want to support them," she said.

She is just getting started with her research project, but she said she has already learned small businesses have a bigger impact than people may think.

"Small businesses have been found that they drive the economy," she said. "I think you can see that in Macon because the small businesses are really helping to build downtown up and it's really becoming a great place."

To contact writer Wayne Crenshaw, call 256-9725.

This story was originally published November 28, 2015 at 9:01 PM with the headline "Crowd sparse for Macon's Small Business Saturday ."