November 21, 2012 10:14 AM
NED B. HUNTER
Small businesses such as Ruxton?s Trading Post in Manitou Springs are often credited collectively as the engine of the economy ? and certainly that?s true in Manitou.
The western store owned by Mike and Gretchen Graham is one of about 100 small businesses in downtown Manitou Springs that draws shoppers who pay sales taxes used to finance city services. Sales tax revenues ? collected mostly from small businesses in that city ? are expected to contribute 54.25 percent of Manitou Springs? 2013 fiscal year revenues, said Jack Benson, city administrator. Without those taxes, it would be ?almost impossible? for the city to fund all its services, said Leslie Lewis, executive director of the Manitou Springs Chamber of Commerce and Office of Economic Development.
?Manitou?s business base is all small business,? she said. ?So people?s support of the small businesses is what keeps Manitou Springs alive.?
This Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, is Black Friday, the unofficial start to the holiday shopping season and a time when some shoppers will storm the nation?s big box retailers. The day after Black Friday ? dubbed Small Business Saturday ? encourages people to support smaller, locally owned businesses. Some of those shoppers can also receive a $25 credit from American Express.
This will be the third year for Small Business Saturday. Graham said last year?s event increased his normal Saturday sales by 8 percent to 10 percent and doubled the usage of American Express cards at his Western store.? He?ll be participating again this year.
?We saw kind of a modest increase and a modest increase is actually a big increase,? he said of last year, ?especially in the last three to four years.?
American Express cardholders must register their cards with the company before Saturday to receive the credit, said Scott Krugman, spokesman for American Express. Shoppers must spend at least $25 at a participating merchant on Saturday to receive the credit, he said.
Registration began Monday and is limited to a specific number of cardholders, Krugman said.
Cardholders can register by phone at 1-866-515-4134 or online at smallbusiness
saturday.com. American Express also offers advertising and other help to merchants who participate in the event.
Krugman did not know how many cardholders American Express would allow to register for the $25 credit.
?Last year we had hundreds of thousands of customers use the statement credit offer,? he said.
Jim Harris, senior vice president of Wells Fargo Bank?s Southern Colorado region, said cities would struggle economically without strong small business.
?It is the local businesses that drive the results of the local economies, and certainly our results as a bank,? said Harris, who is also a board member of the Colorado Springs Downtown Partnership.
The Downtown Partnership is working to attract small business owners to downtown, said Les Gruen, president of the Urban Strategies planning firm, because without them the area will never truly thrive.
?(Small businesses) are magnets for the individuals that you like to see come to downtown, which makes a downtown, hopefully, a dynamic place where lots of different folks come to mingle,? said Gruen, who is also a board member of the Downtown Partnership.
Harris said shoppers should make their purchases at small business throughout the year whenever possible.
?The best way to describe it is that if local businesses are expanding, then the overall economy does well,? he said, ?because they employ the vast majority of employees in town.?
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Contact Ned Hunter: 636-0275.
Source: http://www.gazette.com/articles/small-147572-heels-nips.html
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