After the turkey and stuffing and pumpkin pie, the mashed potatoes gravy and cranberry sauce woooooooo! — then it’s time for the REAL holiday weekend action to begin. The shopping till you drop. The waking up at 2 am to stand in line at **insert store here.** The running around town to get the perfect present on your list. There are three major shopping events coming up super soon, and which one you choose to participate in entirely depends on what you’re trying to buy, and what your general demeanor is.
If you’re able to deal with large, crazy crowds and looking for big ticket items, I suggest you put yourself through Black Friday. If you’ve ever done it you know it’s not fun, but if you’re looking for big ticket electronics, furniture items, or high end home goods, it’s worth it to wake up early and get in line. But be forewarned — it’s always best to do your research and know what you’re looking for on Black Friday. It’s not a time to amble through the aisles or try things on. It’s a time to run in, grab your item before anyone else does, and get home before traffic becomes too crazy.
Cyber Monday is GREAT for Christmas shopping and shopping for yourself — for me it’s all about the clothes, and there are amazing deals on clothes and shoes and beauty items online for Cyber Monday. PLUS you can have your items gift wrapped and automatically shipped to your family and friends, so WIN!
This year I’m super excited to participate in Small Business Saturday — click here to like them on Facebook! a relatively new initative meant to support local businesses and build both the economy and the community. I am SO GEEKED. Small Business Saturday is in its second year, and you can click here to “Pledge to Shop Small” on Nov 26th. American Express is supporting the initiative, and yours truly was sent a special gift card to find cool, only in Chicago items at my favorite local shops.
There’s a handy guide to specially selected small businesses on the Shop Small Facebook page — the direct link for Chicago’s businesses selected by super cool magazine Paper can be found here! There are some AMAZING local boutiques and restaurants and niche stores on the Paper list — shoutout to Greer Chicago!! One of my favorite local blogs, Chitown Fashionista, also came up with a great list of local suggestions — check out her list on Chicago Like a Local!
I too, have a list of Chicago small businesses I plan to support on Small Business Saturday!
I plan to head out to Michigan Avenue south of Roosevelt — there’s a super cool sneaker boutique called Succezz that has a great selection and decent prices on kicks. Nearby there’s a boutique called House of Sole that I need to check out – there’s always cute stuff in their window and recently when I asked a woman on the street about her adorable hat, she told me she’d bought it there.
It’s definitely knitwear and scarf season, and I adore the cowls and circle scarves made by Ladieloops — her boutique is in a big, awesome building at 2150 S. Canalport that is home to MANY up and coming designers, artists, hairstylists and makeup artists — definitely a great place to wander through and support on Small Business Saturday!
I definitely plan to head out to Andersonville to Presence, a cool boutique that sells everything from clothing to accessories to cool gift items like notebooks and stationary and random stuff you didn’t know you needed (but totally did).
That’s how I plan to spend Small Business Saturday, thanks to American Express! What about you? Do you like the idea? Which small businesses do you plan to support?
And if YOU own a small business, please feel free to shout yourself out in the comments!!