LI's small retailers pin hopes on Small Business Saturday shoppers

Holiday shoppers need to think harder about staying close to home, a Patchogue retailer said.

“They go to the big-box stores outside of Patchogue. The money isn’t supporting the small businesses or towns, and especially if they’re shopping the internet,” said Lori Belmonte, co-owner of Colony Shop, a 72-year-old children’s clothing store .

She and other local retailers are betting big on Small Business Saturday, a promotion that American Express launched in 2010 to encourage consumers to support locally owned shops the day after Black Friday. 

Retailers in general are expecting a strong turnout over the five-day period between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday.

While those five days are an important sales contributor — the National Retail Federation, a Washington, D.C.-based trade group, estimates that more than 164 million people will shop then — foot traffic has declined in recent years at brick-and-mortar stores during the period between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday. Online stores keep getting a bigger piece of the action, retail experts said.

Last year, brick-and-mortar sales fell 8.9 percent, and foot traffic dropped 4.4 percent on Thanksgiving and Black Friday weekend compared to the same period in 2016, according to RetailNext, a San Jose-based retail analytics company.

Foot traffic is projected to decline 4 percent to 5 percent at brick-and-mortar stores this Thanksgiving, the firm said.

Still, the five-day period is important to brick-and-mortar retailers. Small stores that set themselves apart by offering great service, a clean store, easy parking and an efficient return policy can fare well, said Charlie O’Shea, lead retail analyst at Manhattan-based Moody’s Corp., a financial services company.

Several local chambers of commerce and other organizations are participating in the national Small Business Saturday initiatives by organizing events that include visits from Santa, storefront decorating contests, prize giveaways, carolers, Christmas tree lightings and live entertainment.

Clipper Ship Tea Co., a tea bar that sells loose leaf teas and accessories on Main Street in downtown Huntington, will offer free tea samples and discounts on Small Business Saturday, owner Melissa Wawrzonek said.

While large retailers are starting their holiday shopping season earlier and earlier, Small Business Saturday signals the start of the shopping season for independent retailers, she said.

“I think a lot of people don’t want to start the season until this weekend happens, until Thanksgiving passes and then it’s kind of like the gates open to the holiday shopping season,” she said.

The tea shop opened on Small Business Saturday in 2010 in Northport but closed in May 2017 after a fire. It later operated as a pop-up inside an art gallery for nine months before opening a new store in Huntington in June.

“Now that we’re downtown in Huntington, it’s like chapter 2 for us,” Wawrzonek said.

The Greater Patchogue Chamber of Commerce is organizing Small Business Saturday events downtown, where 80 percent of the 200 businesses in that area will participate in activities, said David Kennedy, executive director.

The Saturday before Christmas is the biggest shopping day of the year for Patchogue businesses, but Small Business Saturday has become a close second as more people become aware of it, he said.

“I think what’s helping us is we’re in the era now where people are going back to downtowns,” he said.

Retail experts are projecting a strong 2018 holiday shopping season due to a strong economy, high consumer confidence and a low national unemployment rate.

Long Island's unemployment rate was 3.1 percent in October, the lowest since 2001, according to the New York State Department of Labor.

The National Retail Federation is expecting national retail sales in November and December to increase between 4.3 percent and 4.8 percent — or to between $717.45 billion and $720.89 billion — over sales in that period last year.

By Tory N. Parrish

tory.parrish@newsday.comToryParrish1

Tory N. Parrish covers retail and small business for Newsday. She has worked at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Observer-Dispatch in Utica, N.Y.