Last weekend was Small Business Saturday, a promotion founded by the American Express financial institution in 2010 to support community development, small businesses and promote diverse and vibrant communities according to the American Express website.
“This was absolutely our best day yet, even beating our grand opening,” Laramie Soap Company Owner/Operator, Spencer Pittman, said. “We’d like to credit Trey [Sherwood], over at Laramie Main Street Alliance for helping us get on board with this promotion.”
Laramie Soap Company is a fledgling business with a new storefront at 208 E. Grand. This was the busiest Small Business Saturday in Laramie that Pittman could remember. The store sold out of the handcrafted soap and lip-balm they make, but they are already hard at work to restock shelves before Christmas, said Pittman.
Even big businesses stepped in to help promote small businesses. Laramie’s Bank of the West at 222 E. Garfield St. opened its doors and offices to small businesses and even local artists selling their work. Universal Banker Officer, Ashley Brown, spearheaded Bank of the West’s involvement in Laramie.
“We were talking about doing an open house for a client’s business and then Laramie Main Street Alliance contacted us and we just decided to go with a full-blown pop-up,” Brown said. “I was really surprised to have so many vendors contacting us with interest in the space but I was even more surprised by the turnout of shoppers choosing to take advantage of the weather by showing their support for our local businesses.”
While turnout for the promotional event was beyond expectation, SBS coordinators all commented on the need for follow up events throughout winter months, helping to sustain interest and demand for Laramie’s unique small businesses. Coordinators from Main Street Alliance and Bank of the West are hoping to work side by side with other community organizations such as Wyoming Art Party and perhaps the Methodist Church to provide a small market space for locals to sell their goods as often as once a month throughout the winter.
“We used the Laramie Farmer’s Markets in the summer as our soft opening to test the market,” Pittman said. “Oct. 1 was the grand opening so this event was great timing.”
One organizer, Jessica Braur, Communications Coordinator for Laramie Main Street Alliance, was a business owner involved with Laramie’s first Small Business Saturday four years ago and has seen the community come out and rally support year after year for the event.
“Even when sales are slow we see this event as an opportunity to share ideas, communicate about solving problems and for small businesses to be highly visible,” Braur said. “Beside sales, it’s a huge morale boost for the whole community to get out, see and talk to one another in person.”
