Small Business Saturday: Shoppers across Milwaukee prepare for holiday season while supporting local

MILWAUKEE — Thanksgiving weekend is one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year, and that includes small businesses! People from all over Milwaukee County showed up at local markets and shops to support small businesses on Small Business Saturday.

Nestled in-between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the day celebrates small businesses and encourages shoppers to go local.

At the Bronzeville Collective, co-founder Lilo Allen said there was a line of people outside when they opened.

“Milwaukee is a city really good about sewing into small business and I think we see that,” Allen said. “You are sewing right back into us and we can circulate in the community and give back to each other.”

The Bronzeville Collective is a marketplace featuring 30 black, brown, queer, and ally owned creative businesses. Allen said Saturday brought a 30-40% increase in daily revenue for the collective.

Other small businesses featured their goods in marketplaces across Milwaukee as well.

Dozens of people went to Turner Hall for the 2nd annual HYFIN Blackity Black Holiday Market featuring over 40 black-owned vendors.

“It’s an opportunity for these businesses to get in front of people that might not have even known they existed,” Tarik Moody, the program director at HYFIN, said. “We want to keep growing bigger and bigger and bigger and be recognized as the marketplace to be.”

The Milwaukee Makers Market at Discovery World was also Saturday. The market happens frequently, but Saturday was Milwaukee’s official shop small Saturday featuring dozens of small businesses.

In South Milwaukee, the “South Milwaukee Shop Small World Tour” gave 15 independent business owners the opportunity to showcase a country or culture.

“South Milwaukee needed something like this to draw people in, and with the entire community of small business involved, I hope it was successful,” Natalie Gojewski, owner of Omen Subculture Clothing & Accessories, said.

American Express estimates shoppers across the United States spent nearly $18 million in 2022 on Small Business Saturday. Coupled with an estimated record number of shoppers this holiday weekend by the National Retail Federation, small businesses are a big part of the shopping rush.

“It’s personal for us. It puts food on the table and we want you all to see we have to offer. We have so many unique things you need to come in to see and smell and touch,” Allen smiled.

Shoppers at these markets and small businesses said this is a way to support the community.

“People put their heart and soul into a business and I feel like that should be supported,” Claudio Moen, a shopper, explained. “I purposely did not shop yesterday and went out today just to support small businesses.”

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