Small businesses are fighting back in a climate of national retailers touting doorbuster sales on Thanksgiving Day, which as early as Tuesday prompted some zealous bargain hunters to pitch a couple tents outside Gilroy’s Best Buy.
Hosted by the Gilroy Downtown Business Association, “Small Business Saturday” takes place Nov. 30 in conjunction with the nationwide movement and is a direct response to the growing trend of Black Friday sales.
The concept is simple (and a sweet deal for the customer): Shop at a downtown business and get a $20 gift card to use at a participating downtown restaurant.
Ashford’s Heirlooms, a downtown retailer of antique goods that’s been owned by Linda and Steve Ashford for decades, is closed for three days each year: Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter Sunday.
“It’s a time when our family gets together and that’s how it should be,” Linda said. “How can it not be that way?”
The business will, however, be participating in Small Business Saturday and staff says they’ll be open from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m.
Asking employees to give up the holidays is the “new thing,” Linda explained, but she’s not ashamed to say the business will be closed on Thanksgiving when other mega retailers such as Best Buy, Walmart, Target and Kohl’s – which have all started promoting Black Friday sales on Thanksgiving – are throwing open their doors on the holiday.
“One does it and they all follow suit,” Linda said. “Now, it’s going to be that way forever because they just think that’s the norm. It’s a day to be thankful.”
A property owner and small business entrepreneur alongside her husband since 1981, Linda said she attributes the declining revenue of downtown businesses in Gilroy to one thing: Walmart.
She explained that Ashford’s Heirlooms used to be a Western Auto store in the mid-1980s before Walmart moved in, dealing in everything from lawnmowers and clothing to spark plugs.
“There was a letter from the corporate office in Kansas telling all the Western Auto dealers to beware because Walmart is moving in,” she said. “If they come to your community, you can count on being put out of business; and that’s exactly what happened.”
Then came the first section of the Gilroy Premium Outlets, then another and then another. Larger box stores soon followed suit. Those stores, along with large national retail chains and the Gilroy Premium Outlets, according to City data, routinely make the quarterly list of the top 25 sales tax contributors in Gilroy, providing 44 percent alongside car dealerships and gas stations.
Created by American Express in 2010, “Small Business Saturday” addresses the most pressing need for small business owners across the country: more customers.
According to the Gilroy Downtown Business Association, the event that’s celebrated nationally supports individual local economies through job creation and helps preserve neighborhoods.
“Celebrated every year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, the day has given small businesses across the country a huge boost,” said GDBA Coordinator Melanie Corona.
The organization is encouraging residents to take part in the event across downtown Gilroy. If residents spend $100 before taxes at local downtown shops and turn in their receipts to the GDBA’s office (7780 Monterey Road) between Dec. 1 and 14, they can receive a $20 gift card to a participating downtown restaurant, Corona explained.
“We always strongly encourage our residents to shop local, keeping our tax dollars here in Gilroy” said Mark Turner, president and CEO of the Gilroy Chamber of Commerce, who is not affiliated with the GDBA-hosted event. “Small businesses in Gilroy are providing employment opportunities, putting people to work, attracting innovation, fueling the local economy through buying and selling goods and services – not to mention generating revenue, which supports police, fire and local schools.”
Fifty-five percent of all jobs in the United States are provided by small businesses, he added, while the number of small businesses nationwide has increased by 49 percent since 1982.
But it’s more difficult to compete with the big box stores these days, Linda commented.
“The sad thing is, our community was made up of small businesses and we somehow got lost along the way,” Linda said. “I was a part of this downtown 30 years ago, when there were no box stores, and it was a thriving downtown. If you needed something, you would go downtown; it was hot.”
