COLUMBIA, S.C. — The biggest unofficial holiday in South Carolina wrapped up with a big win, and small businesses also got some wins on Small Business Saturday.
Business owners were concerned about turnout with the Clemson versus South Carolina game going on. After a big day of business for large store chains, Black Friday, small businesses were up next for another day busy day of holiday shopping.
In the last 10 years, small business Saturday has grown from a small mention in commercials to a second Black Friday.
“It's important. We have a lot of customers brick and mortar which we so appreciate. It’s easy to shop online but it’s so much more fun to shop in the store,” Fab'rick manager Leanne Reynolds said.
Those are some of the reasons people chose to shop small this weekend.
“I just like the atmosphere better. I feel like everybody is more friendly and more genuine,” Allyssa Walburn said.
“They offer, like play things that other coffee shops don’t offer, and usually the service is much more personal,” another shopper, Corinthian, said.
But small business relies on foot traffic throughout the day and business owners were anticipating a lull period.
Small Business Saturday fell on an unofficial South Carolina holiday this year; the Palmetto Bowl.
“It is a national holiday in South Carolina so we kind of expected for those few hours to be a little off,” Jessica MacCleod with Scout and Molly said.
She said before the game is when the rush happened. The expectation was for things to pick back up after the game.
Some stores are continuing small business deals into tomorrow to make up for money lost during the game.