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Small Business Saturday 2026: A Local Shop Plan
Small Business Saturday falls on 28 November this year. Here is a five-week plan for a local shop, salon, café or service business: the offer, the posts, the questions the day brings, and what to do the weekend after.
The short answer
Small Business Saturday 2026 is Saturday 28 November, two days after Thanksgiving. In 2025, shoppers reported spending an estimated $18 billion at US small businesses on the day, according to an American Express survey. To get ready, pick one reason to visit, order the free Shop Small signage, set special hours on Google, schedule five or six posts, write answers to the questions you will get (hours, stock, gift cards, parking, bookings) and plan the follow-up for the weekend after.
Small Business Saturday sits in the middle of Thanksgiving weekend, between Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The big chains own the Friday. The Saturday is the one day the season’s attention is pointed at the independent shop on the corner, the salon above it and the café across the road.
People who decide to “shop small” still have to choose which small businesses, often on their phones the evening before: who is open late, who has the thing, where to park. This plan is about being the obvious answer, and keeping the customers you meet on the day.
When is Small Business Saturday 2026?
Saturday 28 November 2026. The US Small Business Administration’s Small Business Saturday page gives that date and says the day was founded by American Express in 2010 and has been officially cosponsored by the SBA since 2011. American Express’s own Shop Small page also names 28 November (both checked 21 October 2026).
It is the Saturday after Thanksgiving, so the weekend runs Thanksgiving on Thursday 26 November, Black Friday on 27 November, Small Business Saturday on 28 November and Cyber Monday on 30 November. Our holiday shopping 2026 statistics cover the forecasts for the whole season.
In the UK, Small Business Saturday is a separate campaign held on the first Saturday in December. This year that is 5 December 2026, according to Small Business Saturday UK (checked 21 October 2026). The plan below works for either date: move each week back by seven days.
What the numbers say
Most figures about the day come from surveys American Express commissions. The spending estimate is projected from what a sample of adults said, the next day, they had spent; Amex’s footnotes say it is not a count of receipts or card data. Read it as a measure of participation, not a forecast for your till.
| What | Figure | Source and date |
|---|---|---|
| Estimated consumer-reported spending at US small businesses on Small Business Saturday 2025 | $18 billion | American Express 2025 Small Business Saturday Consumer Insights survey, published 17 December 2025 |
| Reported spending on the day since tracking began | $241 billion | American Express, same release |
| Consumers likely to Shop Small in the 2025 holiday season, in person or online | 86% (89% of Millennials and Gen Z) | American Express 2025 Shop Small Impact Study, published 12 November 2025 |
| Owners who market their business on social channels | 98% | Same study |
| Consumers who say community recommendations on social media influence where they shop | 75% | Same study |
| Small businesses in the US | 36.2 million (45.9% of private sector employees) | SBA Office of Advocacy, February 2026 |
The spending estimate is from the American Express release of 17 December 2025 (a Teneo survey of 2,945 US adults on 30 November 2025). The attitudes are from the 2025 Shop Small Impact Study (1,004 consumers and 500 owners of shops, restaurants and personal services, surveyed in September and October 2025), where over half of the owners estimated the day brings up to 15% of their annual revenue. The business count is from the SBA Office of Advocacy’s Frequently Asked Questions About Small Business, February 2026.
For planning, two findings matter. Nearly every owner (98%) markets on social channels, so your posts compete with every shop on the street. And 75% of consumers say recommendations from people in their community on social media influence where they shop. Your best post may be the one a neighbour shares.
Small Business Saturday ideas that bring people in
Pick one. A single reason to visit fits in a post, on a window sign and in a sentence a friend can repeat.
- Shops: a gift with purchase over a set amount, a first look at a new range, free gift wrapping all day, or a “locals’ hour” when the shop opens early.
- Salons and studios: gift vouchers with a small bonus (buy a voucher, get an add-on treatment), extra appointment slots released for the weekend, or a short open studio with demonstrations.
- Cafés and restaurants: a seasonal menu launch, a dish made with a neighbouring shop’s produce, or a stamp card that runs to the end of December.
- Local services (cleaners, tutors, repairers, trainers): gift cards for a first session, a booking incentive for jobs booked that weekend, or a stall at a neighbour’s shop.
- Everyone: a trail with two or three neighbours, where a receipt from one earns a small treat at the next, and each of you posts about the others.
The five-week plan
From Monday 26 October there are five working weeks to the day. That is enough time to do this properly without a marketing budget, if each week has one job.
| Week | The job | Done when you have |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1: 26 Oct to 1 Nov | Choose one reason to visit; order Shop Small signage | An offer in one sentence |
| Week 2: 2 to 8 Nov | Special hours on Google; hours, gift cards and parking on your website | Hours that match everywhere |
| Week 3: 9 to 15 Nov | Neighbours, stock count, staff rota | A rota and a stock list |
| Week 4: 16 to 22 Nov | Announce; write the answers; test your site as a customer | One answers sheet |
| Week 5: 23 to 28 Nov | Final posts, door sign, the day | A list of who asked for what |
| After: 29 Nov to 6 Dec | Thank yous, follow-up, reviews | A December contact list |
Week 1: the offer and the free materials
Write your one reason to visit as a sentence. Then visit American Express’s Shop Small resource hub for merchants to order free Shop Small signage. Its materials page has free social posts (1080 by 1080), stories (1080 by 1920), banners and printable posters with suggested captions (checked 21 October 2026).
If you accept American Express, check whether you appear on the Shop Small Map that shoppers use to find participating businesses. Amex’s Map FAQs list the criteria, including 1 to 25 locations and no more than $7 million in annual Amex charge volume.
Week 2: get your hours right everywhere
The most common holiday question is “are you open?”, and most people ask Google first. Set special hours on your Google Business Profile for 26, 27 and 28 November. Google’s How to set Special hours gives the steps (Edit profile, Hours, then Special hours). They show only on the dates you set, and Google suggests confirming holiday hours even when they match your usual ones (checked 21 October 2026).
Then make your website say the same: the weekend hours at the top of the home page, plus a gift card page, a directions and parking paragraph, and your returns policy. Anything that answers for you (a teammate, a pinned post, a chatbot) is only as good as what is written there.
Week 3: neighbours, stock and staff
Agree one joint idea with two or three neighbours (the trail above, a shared poster, tags in each other’s posts). Count stock for your 20 best sellers and decide now whether you hold items. Draw up a rota that says who answers messages and the phone during the busy hours.
Week 4: announce, and write the answers down
Start posting (schedule below). Then write, with the team, the ten questions you expect and one agreed answer to each, so nobody tells a customer gift cards expire while a colleague says they never do. Finally, open your website on your phone and try to find the Saturday hours, the parking and the gift card page.
Week 5: the last checks and the day
Print a sign for the door and till with the weekend hours and parking. On the day, note what people asked for that you did not have, and take contact details from anyone who wants to hear when it arrives.
What to post, and when
Five or six posts across three weeks, each with one job. Use your own photos where you can; Amex’s downloadable assets fill the gaps and are sized for feeds and stories.
| When | The post | Format |
|---|---|---|
| Mon 9 Nov | Save the date: Saturday 28 November, your hours, the one reason to come. | Feed post, 1080 by 1080 |
| Mon 16 Nov | Behind the scenes: the new stock, the stylist, the seasonal menu. A face, not a logo. | Story and feed post |
| Fri 20 Nov | The neighbourhood: the shops you are teaming up with, tagged. | Feed post |
| Wed 25 Nov | The practical post: hours for Thursday, Friday and Saturday, parking, gift cards. | Feed post, pinned |
| Sat 28 Nov, morning | We are open: a photo of the door or the window, today only details. | Story |
| Sun 29 Nov | Thank you, with a photo of the day and a link to leave a review. | Feed post |
The questions you will get, and where to answer them
A holiday weekend multiplies the small questions, by phone, message, website and comment, often while you are serving someone. The answers rarely change, so write them once and put them where people look.
- Hours. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, including whether you open late. Answer it on Google, on the website, on the door and in a pinned post.
- Stock. “Do you still have…” decides whether someone makes the trip. If you sell online, your catalogue holds the answer; if not, post photos of what is in.
- Gift cards. Amounts, how to buy them, whether they can be bought online, how they are redeemed and whether they expire. Put all five on one page.
- Parking and directions. One short paragraph: where to park, how long for, and the nearest bus or train stop.
- Bookings. For salons, studios and services, “do you have anything on Saturday?” Release the extra slots online so people can see them without calling.
Many of these questions come in after closing, when someone is planning their Saturday on the sofa. Our guide to capturing website leads after hours covers what to do with them, and the one on AI chatbots for local businesses shows how a salon or a trade can answer them without staying up.
Worked example: a gift shop’s Small Business Saturday
Juniper and Twine is a gift shop we made up for this example. Ruth, the owner, runs it with two part-time staff and sells online through a small WooCommerce store. On a normal Saturday the shop gets about 15 questions by phone, website and message. For Small Business Saturday she counted every question from Thursday evening to closing time on Saturday.
| Question | How many | Already answered by |
|---|---|---|
| Opening hours, late opening, Thursday and Friday hours | 16 | Hours page and Google special hours |
| Is this item in stock, can you hold it | 14 | Online catalogue with stock |
| Gift cards: amounts, buying online, expiry | 9 | Gift card page |
| Parking and getting there | 7 | Directions paragraph |
| Gift wrapping and local delivery | 6 | Services paragraph |
| Returns and exchanges after the holidays | 4 | Returns policy |
| Something else: a custom order, a wholesale enquiry | 2 | Needed the owner |
| Total, Thursday evening to Saturday close | 58 | 56 answered by something already written |
Fifty-eight questions, nearly four times a normal Saturday, and 56 were already answered somewhere on the website. Forty-one arrived while all three of them were at the till or wrapping. At about two minutes a reply, that is close to two hours of the busiest day spent repeating the website, while the two questions that needed Ruth (a custom order and a wholesale enquiry) waited. Here is the Friday evening question that mattered most, handled two ways.
Worked example
Friday night, planning Saturday
Contact form and the shop phone
Owner and two staff, shop open 9:00 to 19:00
- CustomerFills in the contact form: “Are you open late tomorrow? And do you still have the Fig and Cedar candle?”
- WebsiteThanks for your message. We will be in touch.
- 11 hours 10 minutes
- Ruth, Juniper and TwineHi! Open 9 to 7 today. Let me check the candle when I get in.
The answer about stock is still to come when the customer is choosing which shops to visit.
AI agent on the website chat
Same shop, same evening
- CustomerAre you open late tomorrow? And do you still have the Fig and Cedar candle?
- AI assistantWe are open 9:00 to 19:00 on Saturday 28 November. Our online catalogue shows 6 Fig and Cedar candles in stock right now. We are not holding items tomorrow, so earlier is safer.
- CustomerGreat. Where do I park?
- AI assistantThe free car park behind the library on Elm Street is two minutes’ walk away. On Saturday the street spaces outside are for 30 minutes only.
Answered in a minute, from the hours page, the catalogue and the directions paragraph.
The lesson is to write the answers down, in one place, before the weekend. Then a teammate, a pinned post or an AI agent can give them out at 21:40 on a Friday.
The weekend after
The day starts the season. The customers you met are the likeliest to come back in December, if you give them a reason.
- Sunday: say thank you in a post with a photo of the day and your neighbours tagged.
- Monday: clear the backlog. Reply to every message that waited, contact people who asked for something you did not have, release held items.
- That week: ask for reviews. Send a short note with a link to your Google review page. Google’s Tips to get more reviews describe sharing a link or QR code, and prohibit offering free or discounted goods in exchange for reviews (checked 21 October 2026). Ask, but do not pay.
- Look at what people asked. It is a free list of what your website and Google profile should say more clearly. Fix those pages before Christmas.
- Remind gift card buyers how to redeem them, online and in the shop. Every redemption is another visit.
Small Business Saturday checklist
One reason to visit, written in a sentence.
Shop Small signage ordered and assets downloaded, and your Shop Small Map listing checked if you take Amex.
Special hours set on Google for 26, 27 and 28 November, matching your website, door and social profiles.
A gift card page: amounts, how to buy, how to redeem, expiry.
Directions and parking in one short paragraph.
Top 20 items counted, and a yes or no on holds.
Extra booking slots visible online, if you sell appointments.
An answers sheet: ten questions, one agreed answer each.
Five or six posts scheduled.
A way to collect contact details at the till, in a form or in chat.
Sunday and Monday kept for follow-up: replies, held items, thank yous, reviews.
Where EzyConn fits
EzyConn’s AI agent takes the repeat questions from a weekend like this one. It answers on your website chat and on WhatsApp from your own content (the website pages you choose, files you upload and exact answers you write), so your hours, gift card page, parking paragraph and returns policy do the talking.
- Stock: if you sell through WooCommerce, you can connect the catalogue, and the agent answers from its products, prices and stock.
- Bookings: for salons, studios and services, from the Starter plan, the agent offers real appointment times in the website chat and books them, reading busy times from a connected Google Calendar or Microsoft 365 calendar so it only offers times you are free. The customer gets a confirmation by email. The bookings page shows the steps.
- Contact details: a short form before the chat can ask for a name, email or phone number, so the people who ask about something out of stock are on your list on Monday.
- Everything else: when a question is not in your content, the agent says so and offers a person. If the customer accepts, the conversation goes to your team in the inbox, and to Slack if you use it, with everything said so far.
The website chat goes live in about 3 minutes: paste one script tag before your site’s closing body tag, or follow the WordPress or Shopify guide. The Free plan includes the AI agent, needs no card and does not expire; it covers 2 people, 500 messages and 1,000 AI credits a month. Plans and limits are on the EzyConn pricing page, and the AI chatbot for small business page shows what a local shop or service typically sets up first.
Five weeks is plenty of time to try it. Put a free AI chatbot on your website this week, ask it your ten Small Business Saturday questions, and fix whichever answers your pages do not yet give. Or start free now.
Small Business Saturday 2026: common questions
When is Small Business Saturday 2026?
Saturday 28 November 2026, the Saturday after Thanksgiving (Thursday 26 November) and the day after Black Friday. The SBA’s observance page and American Express’s Shop Small page both give 28 November. In the UK, Small Business Saturday is a separate campaign held on the first Saturday in December: 5 December 2026.
What is Small Business Saturday?
A day that encourages people to shop at small, independent businesses at the start of the holiday season. American Express created it in 2010 and the US Small Business Administration has cosponsored it since 2011. Shops, restaurants, salons, studios and local services all take part with offers or events.
How do I get free Small Business Saturday marketing materials?
American Express’s Shop Small resource hub for merchants lets you order free Shop Small signage and download social posts (1080 by 1080), stories (1080 by 1920), digital banners and printable posters, with suggested captions. The SBA’s Small Business Saturday page also links to free materials. Order signage early so it arrives before the last week of November.
Do I need to accept American Express to take part?
No. Anyone can join in and use the day in their own marketing. Some Amex programmes have rules: the Shop Small Map only lists businesses that accept American Express Cards and meet its criteria, such as having 1 to 25 locations and no more than $7 million in annual Amex charge volume. Check the criteria on Amex’s Map FAQs page.
How much do people spend on Small Business Saturday?
American Express’s survey of 2,945 US adults, taken on 30 November 2025, put consumer-reported spending at small businesses that day at an estimated $18 billion. It is a projection from what shoppers said they spent, not a count of receipts or card data. Amex puts the total since tracking began at $241 billion.
What should a small business post for Small Business Saturday?
Several posts across three weeks work better than one on the day: a save the date, a behind the scenes post with a real person, one with your neighbouring shops, a practical post with hours, parking and gift cards, and a thank you on Sunday. Amex’s free Shop Small assets come sized for feeds and stories.
How do I change my holiday hours on Google?
In your Google Business Profile, choose Edit profile, then Hours, then the edit icon next to Special hours. Pick the date, enter the open and close times (or leave it marked closed), and save. Special hours show only on those dates, and your regular hours stay as they are. Google suggests confirming holiday hours even when they match your usual ones.
What are good Small Business Saturday ideas for a service business?
Sell gift vouchers for treatments and sessions, release extra appointment slots, offer a small add-on with bookings made that weekend, or run a short open studio. Make booking easy outside opening hours, so the people who see your posts on Friday night can book then rather than call on Monday.