Shopping small in Fallon means something big

Small Business Saturday was a hit for many local businesses with shops citing the sales definitely spurred more customers to walk through their doors.

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Food Hub Manger Suzie Albaugh reported Saturday was the best day the store has had since it opened, about four times better than the daily average.

Robyn Jordan, who works at the Food Hub and helped with the “Shop Small” marketing campaign spearheaded by teams from the Downtown Merchant’s Association, Fallon Chamber of Commerce, Churchill Economic Development Authority and other groups, said she’s heard very positive things from businesses and shoppers.

She said the scavenger hunt had about 20 participants. There were other games including a photo contest and raffle, and Facebook was used with the hashtag “shopsmall” to guide shoppers through the event including a shop hop, flash sales and last-minute updates. The second Live Local Fallon passport contest was also kicked off.

Jordan’s mother operates a saddle shop, and she said her mom noted it was one of the best post-Thanksgiving Saturdays. Jordan also said it was the busiest she’s ever seen Telegraph Coffee & Tap.

“It’s worth it,” she said of the work put into the campaign and emphasized how much everyone involved did.

DeeDee Ferguson, owner of Blessings in a Bucket, opened up shop both Friday and Saturday and said those days were very helpful and exciting. While she had many relatives in town, her employees stepped in to make sure the store was covered.

“We had one of the biggest days we’ve had since we reopened,” she said of Saturday. “We were just really impressed with the feedback from the local customers and how positive it was. And how nice it was that they were patronizing downtown … Having a great dollar day, it was just a lot more than that to me.”

In addition to the touching patronage and responses she has received, Ferguson said she can’t say enough good things about the “Shop Small” effort. She said she has even had customers return post-sale to purchase items on hold or continue their holiday shopping.

“One thing I do appreciate is there are some great people in the downtown area,” she said. “I feel such a great camaraderie.”

She mentioned Wende Hook, owner of His Inspirations Christian Books & Gifts and president of the Downtown Merchants Association, aesthetician Kari Ernst and the Food Hub in explaining how downtown businesses and personal relationships have helped her with both the technical side of entrepreneurship as well as life. She added that while the marketplace is competitive in nature, there’s a rapport among the downtown merchants.

“The downtown merchants are seeing the need to revitalize downtown and all are on board with it,” she added.

Ernst shares business space with Cook, and said Saturday was a wonderful day — an excellent Small Business Saturday.

“We were very blessed; we had a full house all day long,” she said. “It’s a good time of year. We’re blessed to have such a great little community.”

Jerome Thorne, manager at Bealls, stated everything went great for his store despite it being his first year running it through the holiday season.

“All the customers were very courteous to each other,” he said, adding that shoppers were lined up when the store opened Thanksgiving Day.