NYC prepares for small business Saturday

By

Gabriella Lacombe

Published
Nov 22, 2018

Small businesses across New York City are preparing to celebrate Small Business Saturday on November 24, the day after Black Friday. 

Acting as an alternative to the massive retail sales taking place on the post-Thanksgiving shopping holiday, several shops across the city, including stores along 5th Avenue and in Brooklyn's Park Slope neighborhood, will band together to host block-wide specials, sales, and special events to encourage New Yorkers to spend money at local businesses.  

Originally created as a sales campaign by American Express in 2010, Small Business Saturday has grown to become an annual tradition among small businesses across the country. Within New York City's boroughs, the local shopping holiday creates an opportunity for the city's small businesses to communicate the urgent position they are in as retail rent prices continue to skyrocket. 

The scope of these rent hikes only looks to increase now that Amazon has announced its plans to build a new headquarters in Long Island City, Queens. Rent prices in the formerly affordable borough have already increased by a reported 116 percent from 2012 to 2016, and are expected to grow with the arrival of the massive e-commerce company. 

According to the New York City Economic Development Corp., there were more than 32,000 small business retail locations throughout the city as of 2016, and researchers from American Express reported that 57 cents of every dollar spent at a small business continues to stay in the local community.

The Small Business Jobs Survival Act, a bill meant to protect small business owners from unmanageable rent increases, continues to sit before New York City Council.