LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Local vendors are getting a chance to take part in the holiday shopping spree today for Small Business Saturday.
Community store owners across the nation are urging shoppers to look for gifts from small businesses. There were over 50 vendors in West Louisville on Saturday for the third annual event.
"When you shop with those small businesses, so much more comes back to the community when you do that," said Cynthia Brown with the Louisville Independent Business Alliance (LIBA). LIBA is the group that organized the event.
Rows and rows of goods lined the Norton Healthcare Sports and Learning Center.
Louisville business owners worked booths that were filled with racks of clothing, handmade soap bars, colorful jewelry and children's books, to name a few.
"Really focus on small, independent business owners so that they can start to take part in some of the shopping sprees that people go on for the holidays, and in particular be able to do that in West Louisville and patronize a lot of Black owned businesses," Brown said.
Both vendors and customers said this holiday season, it's all about shopping local.
"My daughter unfortunately had to close her business after three years," Maria Brown, a shopper, said. "She was a small business owner. So, it is important to support those in the community – right here – instead of those box stores, and the people online."
Maria and her husband Pernell dressed in festive outfits to shop for Small Business Saturday.
"It keeps the money in town, where we can use it and we can recirculate it and help another business, so it's a constant chain," Pernell said.
Business owner and Louisville native Monnai McDowell sells sea moss, an immune system health supplement.
"A lot of businesses are looking to grow," McDowell said. "So, when we have that community support, that gives us the opportunity to do so."
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