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Shoppers browse goods at the inaugural Craft Lake City Holiday Market at The Monarch in 2019.

Photo supplied, John Barkiple

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Shoppers browse goods at the inaugural Craft Lake City Holiday Market at The Monarch in 2019.

Photo supplied, John Barkiple

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Onstage Ogden serenaded shoppers in the winter months at the Saturday market at The Monarch.

Photo supplied

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Shoppers stand along 25th St. during the grand opening at Lavender Vinyl shop, Saturday, June 02, 2016, in Ogden.

MATT HERP/Standard-Examiner

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Shoppers check out at Harmon's Five Points in Ogden Friday afternoon, July 17, 2015. The Five Points grocery store has been sold and will become a Ridley’s Family Market in mid-September; the sale of the store was announced Thursday.

BENJAMIN HAGER/Standard-Examiner

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Tis the season of spending.

The National Retail Federation predicts 2025 will be the first $1 trillion holiday shopping season — up roughly 4% from an estimated $976 billion in 2024 — which means most people will be making a lot more purchases in the coming weeks.

But while it may be simple to just go to the massive online retailers or drop by the big national chain stores, there are good reasons to make the extra effort to support local small businesses.

The US Small Business Administration (SBA) and American Express have teamed up together since 2011 to earmark the Saturday after Thanksgiving as Small Business Saturday.

“Champion small businesses nationwide and #ShopSmall on Saturday, November 29, 2025,” the SBA website says. “Now more than ever, small businesses need our support. Please join SBA and organizations across the country as they celebrate small business contributions to their communities by shopping at a small business on November 29, Small Business Saturday.

“Small Business Saturday was founded by American Express in 2010 and officially cosponsored by SBA since 2011. It is an important part of small businesses’ busiest shopping season.

“Join the highly successful team of SBA and American Express in kicking off the 2025 holiday season. Support our nation’s more than 36 million independent businesses this Small Business Saturday and all holiday season long.”

The American Express website, americanexpress.com, lists hundreds of participating small business retailers in local areas like Utah Valley and Ogden on its small business finder map, saying, “This Small Business Saturday®, every time an American Express® Card Member shops with their eligible Card at a qualifying U.S. small business on Saturday, November 29, American Express will donate $1 to Main Street America for the Amex Shop Small Grants Program. Through the program, American Express is dedicated to providing grants for small businesses, allowing them to grow, innovate and support their communities.”

Other organizations, like the Ogden-Weber Chamber of Commerce and the Utah Valley Chamber of Commerce, also encourage shoppers to recognize the value of checking out what local small businesses have to offer.

“Local businesses provide a lot of good in our community,” Karina Blocker, Director of Marketing and Communications for the Utah Valley Chamber of Commerce, said in a phone interview on Monday. “That’s not just from us supporting their services and buying what they have but what they do with that money. They’re supporting the nonprofits in the community, schools and sports teams, and so they give it back. Spending in the local economy keeps that money in the economy and helps all businesses flourish. All boats rise with the tide.”

Blocker said that the chamber of commerce works both directly and indirectly to help support and encourage small business growth in the area.

“We send out a newsletter that highlights local businesses and different holiday deals they have going on,” Blocker said. “It tells about the missions that they’re supporting, where that money is going when you buy from them or support them by making donations and what they’re doing with that.”

She added that on a broader level one of the goals is to pave the way so small businesses can grow.

“We have committees that help support legislative issues that help grow the business economy that keep it easier to start up companies to support entrepreneurs,” Blocker said.

As most who follow the news already know, 2025 had some challenges for some local businesses with tariffs and economic uncertainty. That means that for many a successful holiday season will have an even greater impact.

“The tariffs was a very big issue at the beginning of the year and something we addressed,” Blocker said. “We had a couple of different meetings regarding that and how we could help small businesses with that.”

She referenced a saying of former Utah Governor Gary Herbert about how small local businesses are the building blocks of the economy.

“Governor Herbert says you can’t be a large business without first being a small business,” Blocker said. “It’s really on those small businesses that companies grow and develop and the help of the economy flourish. It’s the people who start working part time and go to full time. Then they grow to employ two people, then four people, then six people. We’re really conscious of those small businesses because those small businesses are what’s going to help grow the economy.”

Her message to shoppers in Utah is to recognize the value provided by these local businesses and support them so they can support the rest of the community.

“Over the years, I think our small businesses show incredible growth and show incredible resilience,” Blocker said. “When we choose to spend locally, especially during the holiday seasons, we’re helping make sure they continue to grow and innovate, and serve our community for years to come.”