RACINE, Wis. — As Thanksgiving weekend nears, small businesses encourage people to shop local and invest in their communities.
At 300 Main Street in Racine, five women are living their dreams by running their separate small businesses out of the BePlush Collective. The women offer everything from clothing and accessories to custom shea butter products and sweet treats.
"Every single one of us battling some type of cancer, but we are all here and we're all striving. We're all continuing with our dreams," Yolanda Coleman, the owner of the BePlush Collective, said.
The business owners are preparing to make Small Business Saturday an exciting day to kick off the holiday shopping season.
"That could make or break," Coleman explained. "This is my bread and butter. I've been in retail for over 30 years and I love it."
The National Retail Federation reports that 77 percent of people who went out to shop Thanksgiving weekend in 2022 said they specifically went for Small Business Saturday.
"It's important because it levels the field for them," Geri Aglipay, Small Business Administration's Great Lakes regional administrator explained.
The SBA along with the Wisconsin Women's Business Initiative Corporation spent Thursday highlighting multiple locally-owned establishments in Racine ahead of the big shopping weekend.
Every dollar at a local business pumps an additional $0.48 into the community, according to American Express which spearheaded Small Business Saturday.
They are stalwarts in our community and they create communities and connections. They also help to support that economic diversity along these Main Street corridors as well," Aglipay said about independent business owners.
While customers can go to big retailers, Coleman wants shoppers to remember that they will get a different experience by shopping small.
"From the beginning, we are going to treat you like a queen or a king," Coleman said. "God brought us together, and we truly really want to be here for our community."
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