Long Beach small business owners counting on Saturday shoppers

Long Beach

Power buying play has started, with Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday each taking spot successful the adjacent fewer days.

And Long Beach concern owners and associations are doing what they tin to marque definite shoppers cognize their options.

The Belmont Shore Business Association has a Scavenger Hunt Bingo contention taking spot from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. connected Shop Small Saturday, Nov. 27. The bingo paper tin beryllium downloaded astatine belmontshore.org.

To play, shoppers look for the vacation elf hiding astatine participating businesses and person their cards stamped astatine each location. The archetypal 25 cards with astatine slightest 1 completed enactment volition gain the shopper $25 to 1 of the shops oregon restaurants. Bingo cards indispensable beryllium turned successful to Sweet Threads Boutique, 4812 E. Second St., connected Saturday.

Downtown Long Beach Alliance is implementing a section buying run for some Shop Small Saturday and the full vacation season.

“We are alert of astir 50 section downtown businesses that are offering immoderate benignant of vacation discount,” DLBA spokesperson Mike Berman wrote successful an email.

The DLBA has a Downtown Passport Marketing programme wherever customers tin cod stamps connected a peculiar paper erstwhile they marque a acquisition from participating businesses and participate to triumph section acquisition cards. After completing the passport, 2 radical volition beryllium selected to triumph $500 each successful acquisition cards to walk connected section businesses.

The promotion volition see Shop Small Saturday and tally done the holidays. Check the DLBA website, downtownlongbeach.org, for the latest section concern deals.

There are astir 900 entries successful the online directory for the Bixby Knolls Business Improvement Association.

“It is captious that you marque the committedness to store tiny successful Bixby Knolls starting now,” Blair Cohn, the association’s enforcement director, has posted connected societal media. “Due to the larboard disruptions and proviso concatenation shortages, galore businesses are hurting successful assorted ways. Stay disconnected of Amazon a bit, instrumentality a locomotion astir the district, bash immoderate discovering: acquisition cards, unsocial gifts, stocking stuffers.

“Discovering items successful our boutiques, restaurants, and work businesses marque for a win-win scenario,” helium added. “You are supporting those pursuing the American Dream of owning a tiny concern portion making your vicinity steadfast and vibrant.”

Retro Row, the country on Fourth Street successful eastbound Long Beach, has astir 100 independently owned and operated stores that connection goods, foods and experiences, according to the website 4thstreetlongbeach.com.  All of Fourth Street has precocious walkability scores — radical whitethorn privation to not bounds buying to the blocks betwixt Temple and Cherry.

There is simply a Fourth Street mural “just for fun” scavenger hunt, wherever shoppers and diners tin stroll past six murals. The murals are located adjacent Songbird connected 4th⁠, Little Coyote (mural changes each 4 months)⁠, Pigeon’s Roller Skate Shop⁠, Coffee Drunk⁠, VBurger and Lola’s Mexican Cuisine.

In the Los Altos area, connected Bellflower Boulevard, Umberto’s has its full inventory reduced by up to 75% — and determination is simply a coupon for an further 10% successful this week’s paper.

Even thrift shops person jumped connected the Shop Small Saturday bandwagon, with Christian Outreach successful Action’s Clark & Atherton shop, 1772 Clark Ave., offering 50% disconnected storewide connected Black Friday.

The word “Black Friday” started backmost successful the 1960s to statement the kickoff to the Christmas buying season. While not the busiest time of the buying season, it is the time erstwhile stores typically determination from the “red” to the “black” successful their yearly accounting, frankincense being astir guaranteed to marque a profit.

In those days, galore large container stores would unfastened aboriginal connected Friday and the “who volition unfastened first” contention ended erstwhile Thanksgiving Day openings became a short-lived trend.

Small Business Saturday started arsenic a run launched by American Express 11 years ago, to assistance tiny businesses summation vulnerability and to motivate shoppers to patronize section shops. Always the Saturday aft Thanksgiving, it’s present an yearly tradition.

Sign up for The Localist, our regular email newsletter with handpicked stories applicable to wherever you live. Subscribe here.