Customers at Artlexia were offered tangerine mineral water while they browsed the Mexican jewelry, art and crafts inside the North Park shop on Saturday.

Shopkeepers put out hot cider and cookies at Magical Child, the children’s boutique on South Coast Highway in Encinitas.

“We are very customer-oriented and a lot of our families have shopped here for years,” saleswoman Tammy Arnold said. “People that come into this shop are very appreciative of the uniqueness of the lines, the toys and things you wouldn’t normally find at Target.”

Thousands of shoppers shunned the malls and big-box stores on Saturday, instead choosing to explore mom-and-pop retailers in North Park, Encinitas and other neighborhoods across San Diego County as part of the shop-small promotion known as Small Business Saturday.


Organized in 2010 by the financial-services giant American Express, Small Business Saturday has become an annual retail tradition that has steered billions of dollars to independent stores and created a broadening awareness of the importance of shopping locally.

The effort is all the more important as more consumers spend money online.

Adobe Analytics, a data-analysis company that examines trends in mobile and web-based shopping, estimated that Americans will surpass $124 billion in online sales this holiday season, nearly 15 percent more than last year.

By 7 a.m. Saturday, Adobe reported some $400 million in Small Business Saturday sales.


In less than a decade, Small Business Saturday has taken a high-profile seat alongside other staples of the holiday shopping season that kicks off after Thanksgiving, regardless of whether the sales are made online or in person.

“Today we’ve been doing great — almost similar to Black Friday,” said Damien Cruz of Overload, a clothing and apparel store on 30th Street that was offering 25 percent off everything and 50 percent off anything with a North Park or San Diego reference.

“Independent stores are just more relatable,” Cruz said. “The corporations are so far away and detached from the regular shoppers, you feel more at home here.”

North Park bartender Shanon McCloud said she shops at locally owned shops almost exclusively.


“You get a lot more personal service and I don’t like buying what everyone else has, so this is a little more unique,” said McCloud, who bought several of the sale items at Overload. “I know I’m keeping the windbreaker, but the shirts are too big so I know I’ll be giving them as gifts.”

Outside Simply Local, a University Avenue boutique featuring clothing and other work from dozens of local artists, a busker played guitar as customers pushed in and out of the storefront.

“This is a neighborhood and I’m tired of big stores, so what are you going to do?” said Pedro Jackson, a North Park real estate investor. “I like a small community where you have all sorts of different things.”

The Adams Avenue corridor between University Heights and Kensington celebrated the shop-local push Saturday, hosting the fourth annual Adams Avenue Spirit Stroll. The afternoon event offered holiday-themed cocktails mixed by local bartenders to shoppers buying $20 tickets.


For Chad and Stacy Reddell, Small Business Saturday is a critical marketing tool.

The founders of 101 Republic Clothing Co. set up shop early Saturday along South Coast Highway, on the sidewalk just in front of the Encinitas 101 MainStreet Association, the business group that organized the shop-small event in that community.

“Small Business Saturday is the epitome of what we are all trying to do,” Stacy Reddell said as she displayed racks of specialty T-shirts and other beach-themed clothing. “It represents the family-oriented businesses, the husband-and-wife businesses, and it helps us all thrive.”

Inside Artlexia, North Park pizza shop owner Kim Newin said she shopped local to support her friends and neighbors.


“This is small business supporting small business,” said Newin, sipping from a cup of tangerine mineral water and clutching a nearly filled bag with the shop small logo. “I bought candles and some really unique gifts — the kind of thing you can’t find at the malls.”

jeff.mcdonald@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1708 @sdutMcDonald