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Small Business Saturday: 4 Easy Ways To Support Small Firms

Small Business Saturday: All You Need To Know And How To Help
Asa Bennett
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Blend Images/Jon Feingersh via Getty Images

Small Business Saturday has hit the UK for the first time, with politicians across all parties urging Brits to go out and shop at small businesses.

Small Business Saturday is another American import like Black Friday, after starting up across the Atlantic in 2010 with the support of American Express as a way to encourage shoppers to support local, independent businesses. For its first year in Britain, SBS is being promoted entirely by volunteers.

Even TV experts, like property guru Kirstie Allsopp, want shoppers to help small businesses. She told HuffPostUK: "If you can support your local high street and keep it going, that can benefit you. It's also beneficial in terms of your community."

Read on for all you need to know on how to find a good small business and to mark Small Business Saturday.

Ways To Support Small Business Saturday
Pick out a pop-up shop (01 of04)
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Small businesses are popping up all the over the place, and some entrepreneurs have gathered in little hubs of business activity.From Ashford and Dunstable to Richmond and Chard, check out Pop Up Britain to see where your nearest hub for inventive pop-up businesses is. Blogging on the Huffington Post UK, Start Up Britain's Emma Jones says: "Our experience suggests that small businesses stand to gain a lot from this particular pop-up model. It adds the social dimension that working remotely removes for them and the palpable irony that new online British businesses could be the salvation not the destroyer of our high streets."
Shop online with small firms (02 of04)
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You can support small independents without leaving your home, visiting sites like notonthehighstreet.com. Holly Tucker, notonthehighstreet.com founder, says:"Our mission with notonthehighstreet.com is to bring together the world's best small businesses with customers who are looking for the original, innovative and charming products and services they provide. "Small Business Saturday is important for our 4,000 small business partners as it encourages shoppers to support their local businesses and put money back into the local economy."
Looking for a specific product? (03 of04)
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Use the app Udozi, to see which shop - especially the small independents - would have what you want. You'll save yourself a lot of aimless browsing and awkward chats with store staff to see "what they have in stock".
Try to choose small firms over big chains (04 of04)
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Even online, it's very easy to support the small guy. Whenever you go on Amazon.co.uk, make sure to look at the marketplace for independent sellers using their marketplace. You can try sites like etsy.com, which stock products from independent designers.
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