Small Business Saturday Has Mixed Results in Berkley

Small Business Saturday is catching on from San Francisco to Chicago to New York, but it had mixed results this weekend in Berkley.

On the heels of Black Friday, several local retailers participated in the first Small Business Saturday, a new nationwide event designed to promote and support small businesses. American Express sponsored the event in conjunction with more than a dozen organizations.

in Berkley participated in Small Business Saturday, but co-owner Lisa Hull of Farmington Hills said the children's consignment shop only did one-third the sales it enjoys on a typical Saturday. She speculated that the reason may be that people are out of town for the holiday weekend.

"We won't give up," Hull said of Small Business Saturday. "With anything, it takes time to for people to adapt to it. Things take time to catch on. We're going to be patient and stick through it."

She said her store will participate in the event next year.

The slow sales weren't for lack of trying. Dandelions offered Small Business Saturday shoppers a bevy of bargains, including:

• Full-price baby items at 40 percent off.
• Buy two, get one free on Melissa and Doug puzzles.
• Select hair accessories half off.
• Squeaker Sneakers 30 percent off.
• All tutus and petticoats 40 percent off.
• All full-price clothing 30 percent off.
• Crocheted hats half off.
• "Dandelion dollars" worth $5 back toward a future purchase for every $20 spent.

Yellow Door Art Market, which promoted Small Business Saturday on its popular Facebook page and offered artist giveaways, enjoyed lively traffic Saturday. Customers were lined up, parking spaces were scarce, and a crew from WDIV-TV, Channel 4, showed up to tape a piece for its nightly newscast.

Other Berkley merchants who participated in or were open for the event with special treats included ,  and Get It Personalized.

American Express offered $100 worth of Facebook advertising to participating merchants and gave a $25 credit to card members who registered by Saturday to participate. More than 10,000 businesses took advantage of the offer, according to the Small Business Saturday page on Facebook.

As part of the promotion, American Express will donate a dollar to Girls Inc., a nonprofit organization whose mission is to empower girls, for every "like" on Facebook, up to $1 million.