Businesses in Acadiana gear up for Small Business Saturday

LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY)- Business owners across the country will celebrate Small Business Saturday this weekend.

The event was started by American Express 10 years ago.

Consumer spending on that day has reached an estimated $103 billion across the country since the campaign began.

Here in Acadiana, small businesses are getting ready for the busy weekend.

“We are your neighborhood bike shop so you might come in as a stranger but you were going to leave as a part of our family,” says Megan Arceneaux the owner of Hub City Cycles. They’ve been downtown competing with the big box stores for the past six years.

“We really think that shopping small is so important to Acadiana and it’s so important to small businesses like us,” says Arceneaux.

Numbers show that supporting small businesses put money directly back into the local economy. About 48 percent of revenue from independent retailers is recirculated into the community.

“The Internet store can’t come to pick you up off of the side of the road, but we can,” says Arceneaux.

“Everything in our store is handmade by a local artist so you won’t find anything like this anywhere else,” says Sharon Brotherthon. More than 250 artists from the LouisianaCraft Guild has their work on display and for sale at Sans Souci Fine Crafts Gallery.

“Lafayette has a lot of artists and when you buy local and when you buy art you are also supporting the art community which is really important,” says Brotherthon.

According to the Lafayette Economic Development Authority, 82 percent of shoppers plan to shop and eat local this Saturday.