Long Beach
Power shopping season has started, with Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday all taking place in the next few days.
And Long Beach business owners and associations are doing what they can to make sure shoppers know their options.
The Belmont Shore Business Association has a Scavenger Hunt Bingo contest taking place from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Shop Small Saturday, Nov. 27. The bingo card can be downloaded at belmontshore.org.
To play, shoppers look for the holiday elf hiding at participating businesses and have their cards stamped at each location. The first 25 cards with at least one completed row will earn the shopper $25 to one of the shops or restaurants. Bingo cards must be turned in to Sweet Threads Boutique, 4812 E. Second St., on Saturday.
Downtown Long Beach Alliance is implementing a local shopping campaign for both Shop Small Saturday and the entire holiday season.
“We are aware of about 50 local downtown businesses that are offering some type of holiday discount,” DLBA spokesman Mike Berman wrote in an email.
The DLBA has a Downtown Passport Marketing program where customers can collect stamps on a special card when they make a purchase from participating businesses and enter to win local gift cards. After completing the passport, two people will be selected to win $500 each in gift cards to spend on local businesses.
The promotion will include Shop Small Saturday and run through the holidays. Check the DLBA website, downtownlongbeach.org, for the latest local business deals.
There are almost 900 entries in the online directory for the Bixby Knolls Business Improvement Association.
“It is critical that you make the commitment to shop small in Bixby Knolls starting now,” Blair Cohn, the association’s executive director, has posted on social media. “Due to the port disruptions and supply chain shortages, many businesses are hurting in various ways. Stay off of Amazon a bit, take a walk around the district, do some discovering: gift cards, unique gifts, stocking stuffers.
“Discovering items in our boutiques, restaurants, and service businesses make for a win-win scenario,” he added. “You are supporting those pursuing the American Dream of owning a small business while making your neighborhood healthy and vibrant.”
Retro Row, the area along Fourth Street in east Long Beach, has nearly 100 independently owned and operated stores that offer goods, foods and experiences, according to the website 4thstreetlongbeach.com. All of Fourth Street has high walkability scores — people may want to not limit shopping to the blocks between Temple and Cherry.
There is a Fourth Street mural “just for fun” scavenger hunt, where shoppers and diners can stroll past six murals. The murals are located near Songbird on 4th, Little Coyote (mural changes every four months), Pigeon’s Roller Skate Shop, Coffee Drunk, VBurger and Lola’s Mexican Cuisine.
In the Los Altos area, on Bellflower Boulevard, Umberto’s has its entire inventory reduced by up to 75% — and there is a coupon for an additional 10% in this week’s paper.
Even thrift shops have jumped on the Shop Small Saturday bandwagon, with Christian Outreach in Action’s Clark & Atherton shop, 1772 Clark Ave., offering 50% off storewide on Black Friday.
The term “Black Friday” started back in the 1960s to label the kickoff to the Christmas shopping season. While not the busiest day of the shopping season, it is the day when stores typically move from the “red” to the “black” in their annual accounting, thus being almost guaranteed to make a profit.
In those days, many big box stores would open early on Friday and the “who will open first” contest ended when Thanksgiving Day openings became a short-lived trend.
Small Business Saturday started as a campaign launched by American Express 11 years ago, to help small businesses gain exposure and to motivate shoppers to patronize local shops. Always the Saturday after Thanksgiving, it’s now an annual tradition.
