Small Business Saturday - Shop Fort Scott

Pick up a passport at local Chamber member businesses listed on the passport, get a stamp or signature by spending $5 or more, turn in your card after 3 stamps and get entered to win Chamber Bucks!




CHAMBER ENCOURAGES SHOPPING LOCAL WITH SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY PASSPORT

The Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce is registered as a Neighborhood Champion for Shop Small, Small Business Saturday, a program initiated by American Express.  Neighborhood Champions rally the community to Shop Small
The Chamber received a limited amount of Shop Small swag from Am Ex that is being distributed to locally owned Chamber member small business to use during Small Business Season.

We have also put together a Shop Small Passport that shoppers may pick up from local retailers this Friday and Saturday.  If shoppers earn 3 or more stamps by making a purchase of $5 or more, they turn in the passport at their 3^rd store for an entry to win $50 in Chamber Bucks.  The drawing will take place on Tuesday, December 3rd.  Chamber Bucks can be used like cash at over 60 Chamber member businesses and restaurants.

The Chamber would like to emphasize the importance of shopping local and what a difference a few dollars spent per shopper can make! 

Following are a few statistics:

• Per score.org, for every $1 spent at a small business, 67 cents stays in the local community.  44 cents goes to the small business owner and employee’s wages and benefits.  23 cents gets reinvested in other local businesses. 
• $20 spent locally does more than purchase goods, it weaves a community tapestry, where every thread strengthens the whole.  That same $20 circulates.  You eat at a local restaurant and tip the wait staff, the wait staff then goes and gets a haircut, the stylists then go and buy a cup of coffee, the barista then buys a candle at a gift shop, and so on.  When you spend $20 online, that $20 is gone out of our community.
• Ten dollars spent at a local store can really have a sizable impact.  The impact is sizable. It’s estimated that over $9.3 billion would be returned to our US economy if every family spent just $10 a month at a local business. That’s not even one meal’s worth of spending a month. It’s really only a few cups of coffee a month. What a tremendous impact we could have if everyone could commit to that.