Video: Black Friday Boom to Both Businesses, Consumers

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ABERDEEN, Miss. (WCBI) — Black Friday is the name, and shop until you drop is the game.

Businesses all over have opened their doors in the early-morning hours to welcome customers looking for a good bargain. For local business owner Robin Bounds, her unique boutique is reaping some economic benefits.

“It’s already up about 20 percent this morning already from last year,” Robin’s Unique Boutiques Owner Robin Bounds said.

Robin’s Unique Boutiques has been serving the community of Aberdeen for seven years. She said supporting small businesses like her specialty store not only helps drive the local economy, but it provides customers with a more personal shopping experience.

“I just think the care is there,” Bounds said. “You’re not just a number. You may come in and say, ‘I want this one certain boot,’ and, ‘Can you please get it for me, Robin.’ Come Monday, I’m researching it for them. They are not just a number, they are not just a name. They feed my children and pay my bills out of my house, and a lot of the employees in here, without this, they wouldn’t have a job.”

And to make sure local businesses are supported, Nov. 29 has been dubbed “Small Business Saturdays.” According to American Express, consumers nationwide spent $5.7 million on Nov. 29 last year. Local shopper Anita Mattox can vouch for that large statistic, because she too is a small business owner.

Mattox has some sound advice for eager holiday shoppers.

“Granted, everybody has got their Walmart list,” Mattox said. “Everybody’s got their Toys’R’Us list, whatever. But first, if everybody would just go to at least one local store, maybe you’ve never been in it before, you will be absolutely amazed the unique gifts you can find — and not your everyday gifts.”

Small Business Saturday was launched by American Express in 2010 to encourage more shoppers to support local stores.