Retail shops in DeKalb County prepare for Small Business Saturday

DeKALB – DeKalb County-area business owners are preparing for what they hope is a surge in holiday shoppers this weekend to mark the Small Business Saturday campaign.

Three DeKalb-area small businesses said they are ready for the start of the holiday shopping season. Many area businesses also have partnered for the Shop Small Crawl, a local-forward shopping event that runs all weekend to encourage folks to patronize one of dozens of participating companies in DeKalb, Sycamore and the Genoa area.

Aurora Music Company vice president Frank Agnello said the store is fully stocked and ready for the big day.

“It’s both exciting and nerve-racking because it’s unknown,” Agnello said. “We opened in August of 2022. We kind of went through it last year, but we were still very, very new at it. We had only been open for a few months at that point. We just didn’t know what to expect.

“[We] still don’t really know what to expect, only because we don’t have a long track history to look back to see what we should be expecting.”

Aurora Music Company, 137 E. Lincoln Highway in downtown DeKalb, plans to extend free lessons to anyone who purchases select instruments as part of its Small Business Saturday promotion.

“Besides that, we have a full shop in-house,” Agnello said. “We actually build custom guitars. That’s something else that, when people are coming in looking for unique gifts, something that we can talk about with them is offering to build them a custom-built guitar.”

Matt Duffy, executive director at the DeKalb Chamber of Commerce, said patrons should remember that mom-and-pop shops can benefit greatly from the holiday shopping season – your money goes a long way in helping them out.

“This time of year, [there] is an influx of additional purchases happening,” Duffy said. “This is a key time for all businesses, but especially small business, to generate some income to finish out the year strong and put themselves in a good position moving into 2024.”

This and That Collectibles owner Nancy Carlock said she is expecting more shoppers than in past years.

“It’s going to be more, because we have had more traffic because of our location and the parking, because we have parking in front and city parking in the back,” Carlock said.

This holiday season will mark the first at her shop’s current address, 520 E. Lincoln Highway in downtown DeKalb.

Carlock said that because her store carries a lot of antiques, there isn’t a ton of stocking that needs to be done, but some vendors may.

The DeKalb Chamber has rolled out a new digital gift card that is available for online purchase, which Duffy said is meant to ensure any dollars spent remain local, versus buying someone an Amazon or Visa gift card.

“If you’re not sure where to get it from, this is an opportunity to keep those dollars local rather than having them going to an online or out-of-the-area-type of business,” Duffy said.

The DeKalb business scene has seen its share of comings and goings over the past year.

“The dominoes are definitely following in the direction that we’re excited about – new places in the area to eat and shop and live and work, and all kinds of different opportunities here,” Duffy said. “There’s new places opening all the time. It’s exciting [to have] more places to venture out to and try.

“Maybe [you’re] looking for that unique gift over the holidays and some new places to check out and see what they might have. [There’s] not just things but services [too]. There’s a lot of places that offer services versus actual things.”

The Shop Small Crawl, which runs through Monday, is hosted and organized by Blumen Gardens in Sycamore. A total of 33 DeKalb County small businesses have signed on to be a part of the third annual shop-local initiative, which incentivizes consumers to visit as many local shops as possible to be entered into a gift card raffle.

Sycamore Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Rose Treml said the program isn’t a creation of the Sycamore chamber but is one the organization is happy to encourage and support.

“It’s gone gangbusters,” Treml said. “We love that [Blumen Gardens] ties in other towns and communities, and I think it’s a really good thing for our small, independent, locally owned businesses.”

Sherri O’Donnell, who owns Twigs and Twine – a unique and special gifts shop at 1170 DeKalb Ave., Sycamore – said she’s not quite sure what to expect this weekend because it’s her first Small Business Saturday as a business owner.

“We’re very excited,” she said. “We’ve had really good luck here so far. [There have been] people coming in, and seeing people come in, I’m really, really excited to see what [Saturday’s] going to bring.”

Graham Crackers Comics store manager Kevin Healy said the shop is ready for the crowds on Small Business Saturday.

“Saturdays are going to be our busiest or second busiest day of the week, especially on the giant holiday shopping weekend coming after Black Friday,” Healy said. “We do think that we’ll see a good crowd coming through.”

At Graham Crackers Comics, 901 Lucinda Ave., DeKalb, patrons will find not only comic books but also a large selection of graphic novels, toys and collectible card games.

“We will have a good supply of holiday gift ideas, products and things specifically for the holidays and larger gift-giving,” Healy said. “We’ve got people who will bring in Christmas lists almost registry-style. We are normally stocked to the gills with the most products we’ll have in the store leading into the holidays, and this year is no exception.”

The end-of-year holiday season is commonly understood to be the busiest time of year for local retail businesses. Efforts to support those store fronts – such as Small Business Saturday and the Shop Small Crawl – may help those stores increase profits for the season, but Treml said she wishes these kinds of programs would be done throughout the year.

“I wish it was an all year thing,” Treml said. “I wish it was top of mind for residents and people who live in the surrounding communities 12 months out of the year, and not just November and December.”