State small-business shoppers want more opportunities

Forty-three percent of American adults shopped at their local small businesses on Small Business Saturday.

The National Federation of Independent Business and American Express released the 2017 Small Business Saturday Consumer Insights Survey on Monday. The report said that more than 108 million Americans shopped small businesses on Saturday. Nearly half visited a small business that they had never visited before.

In Colorado, the most popular destinations for small-business shoppers were restaurants, bars and pubs with 40 percent of small-business shoppers visiting them on Saturday. That was followed by coffee shops (25 percent) and clothing stores (20 percent).

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Favorite purchases were made at restaurants (17 percent), bakeries (8 percent) and clothing stores (7 percent).

When asked what they’d like to see more of in their communities, small-business shoppers said restaurants and bars (26 percent), bakeries (21 percent), leisure activities (14 percent) and bookstores (13 percent).

Most small-business shoppers were accompanied by family members as they shopped, and, predictably, bought gifts for family members although 46 percent also bought gifts for themselves.

When asked why they shopped at small businesses, Colorado consumers said that service is usually better, they want to support their community, it’s more convenient and many said that selection of the items they like to buy is better.