Small Business Saturday Puts Royal Oak on the Map for Holiday Shopping

Royal Oak, a mecca of restaurants, retail stores, entertainment venues and more, got the opportunity to show off all that it has to offer during the second annual Small Business Saturday on Nov. 26.

“These businesses add to the interest of our city,” said Lorene Branch, downtown shopper and Royal Oak resident. "Royal Oak has always been a destination and having unique and creative, individual businesses keeps that going and makes people want to live here and makes people want to shop here.”

Customers darted out first thing in the morning to support the local shops, and in turn, received discounts and deals from the stores themselves as well as a special $25 rebate incentive from American Express.

“Shopping local is so important; if you want to continue to have the variety of the interesting, small stores to shop at, then you have to continue to shop at them,” said Beverly Freed, manager of , a stationary and gift shop on Washington Avenue.

Though many retailers are expecting a large amount of shoppers on Small Business Saturday, many agree that their business has slowly been increasing over the past few weeks.

“Keeping it local is so important; if we all help each other then we can make our city grow bigger and better,” said Kady Pierce, manager of , a full service hair salon on Fourth Street. “We had a lot of Black Friday specials this weekend and we always have discounts near the holidays and also throughout the month of December, all (hair) blowouts are $20 instead of $30.”

With constant competition against larger retailers who rely heavily on advertising, small businesses have found their own ways to stand out.

“The coffee that we use is from a Michigan company called Great Lakes Coffee so it’s locally roasted,” said Sarah Bazzetta , an employee at , a traditional Chinese tea café on Fourth Street. “Everything aside from the tea that we ship from China, we try to do local; all of our baked goods are from Pinwheel Bakery in Ferndale, all of our sandwiches are made in-house and we also have a small selection of herbal teas as well.”

Many who choose to shop at small businesses have a list of reasons for doing so, including keeping money in the city. 

“Small businesses have a lot of neat, little things that you might not find in a big box store and you’re helping the economy,” said Carol Hennessey, a Royal Oak resident and small business shopper. “Royal Oak has been great and I love the way it is now, and in order, for these stores to stay, we have to support them.”