Small Businesses Owners Cautiously Optimimistic About Holiday Shoppers

As the holidays close in, small businesses around Annandale expect a little relief from the financial chokehold the economy has placed around their necks, but not much.

“We do better than normal business around this time, but we’re still in a recession,” said Gary Sherfey, owner of .

Small Businesses account for 97 percent of all businesses in Fairfax County, according to the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority, and while Virginia’s small business sector has seen more growth than most states in the recent past, today’s economy is still making it tough to turn a big profit. With the busiest shopping days of the year right ahead of us, many of the small businesses in Annandale are on edge to see if shoppers will spend more than last year and help pull the bottom lines out of the recession slump.

“Before, they would do repairs right away, nowadays they have to think about it,” said owner Paula Luabun. “It has been slow, but I hope it will pick up after the holidays. Usually people come in with their gifts like rings that are too big or too small and need to be resized so, we [are] hoping.”

Thanksgiving’s Black Friday, the Friday following Thanksgiving, is the busiest shopping day of the year for stores nationally. The seven-year-old Cyber Monday, the Monday after Thanksgiving, hit a reported $1 billion in online sales last year, so it’s no surprise that another shopping “holiday” has been created right around Thanksgiving aimed at small businesses.

For the second year in a row, American Express has been publicizing Small Business Saturday (SBS) to try to push their cardholders to shop at local small businesses. American Express cardholders who shop at small businesses on November 26, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, will receive a $25 refund on their bill; however, you must register your American Express card ahead of time through the SBS Facebook page or other sites like Foursquare.

Last year, American Express reported a 28 percent rise in their small business merchant sales on SBS, versus the same day in 2009. However, small businesses in Annandale don’t seem to be emphasizing the day.

“I know I am supposed to be advertising to my customers, but I really haven’t done much,” said owner Sam Zeki. “[But] this is our busiest time of the year—now until Christmas.”

And many businesses in Annandale do not even offer American Express as a payment option, so it is unlikely the SBS “holiday” will create much of a stir locally. The hope for booming sales still lies on the rest of the season, with some trepidation.

“We expect to do better than last year, but this economy has definitely affected us,” said Robin Milburn, director of . “We are cautiously optimistic.”