Have you heard about Small Business Saturday? It was first “celebrated” in 2010 as a counterpart to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, which feature big box retail and ecommerce stores. Read up more about the history here. The point of Small Business Saturday is to encourage people to support their local economy by shopping at small businesses during the craziest shopping weekend of the year. The SBA has some great resources you can access here. To stay up-to-date about the celebrations of Small Business Saturday, like the official Facebook Page. You can also search a list of participating businesses here.

We’ve written articles in the past about local Portland small businesses, and why it’s important to shop local, even as a business. We believe in the importance and power of small businesses in America. Keeping our business local is a philosophy we at Propel Businessworks aim to make a lifestyle. This weekend, we encourage you to keep it local, too, and celebrate small businesses.

Here are a few of our favorite local spots to stop in on:

Crossroads Café for amazing coffee and lunch [Gladstone, OR]

Bonnet Boutique for unique hats and accessories (for women AND men!) [NW Pearl district]

Leanna NYC for a hand-selected collection of designer women and men’s clothes [NW Pearl district]

Mio Sushi for delicious sushi [Hillsboro/Aloha, OR]

Consigning Women for the latest trends at a steal [Lake Oswego, OR]

Not sure how to find local small businesses in the Portland area? Here are a few small business directories that should help you find what you’re looking for:

Portland Business Journal

CRAVE Portland

WomenInspired!

Portland Creative List

Local Portland

Where are your favorite spots to shop local? We’d love to know in the comments!

P.S. To read more about what we think about shopping local, check out the blog article we wrote for CRAVE!