Small businesses cash in

EASTHAMPTON, Mass. (WWLP) - Despite being nestled between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Small Business Saturday's sales were better than expected.

The concept was simple; shop small and stay local.  “Even though I wasn't able to do it because I had to work on Saturday, here I am doing it today.  So when I have a choice, I'm going to be here, downtown,” said Kim Nall of Westhampton on Monday.

Nall bought a pair of shoes from a Northampton shop.  And she wasn’t the only one who spent her money locally.  Millions of shoppers stayed local this Small Business Saturday, exceeding expectations and, according to the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB), spending $5.5 billion.   

Easthampton's Besko's Appliance saw double the sales. Sales representative Ken Adams credits Facebook for driving traffic into the appliance store.

“[We] had a couple that was moving to town and they were remodeling a home here in town to buy. They found us on Facebook,” said Adams inside the Cottage Street shop.

Adams says laundry appliances were among the top sellers.  Northampton's Left Click saw a spike in electronic accessory sales.

“We noticed a 20-25% increase in sales and service. [We saw] a lot of people coming in to look into a new computer case or cell phone cases,” said Junior Technician Ian Schenholm. 

But what prompted the increase in traffic? The Greater Easthampton Chamber of Commerce promoted the day through Social Media. 

The (NFIB) says this type of increased awareness gets people involved and drives sales. The sales were welcome news to small business owners, who recently expressed optimism. An October NFIB survey found almost 25% of small business owners were doubtful about future economic growth.