Oct 27, 2011

Small Business Saturday Set to Launch 2nd Official YearBy David MielachBusinessNewsDaily.com

New York, NY – Small Business Saturday, a day created to support small businesses, has been gaining popularity among shoppers in its second year. At an Oct. 27 press conference kicking off Small Business Saturday, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and American Express chief executive officer and chairman Kenneth Chenault spoke of the importance that small businesses have on both the local and national economies.

“I am thrilled to announce that we are launching the second annual Small Business Saturday,” said Chenault, speaking at Rothman’s department store. The event that will take place Nov. 26. “This initiative is all about jobs and our neighborhoods. We must support our communities. Small businesses owners provide on-the-job training for about half of the private sector workforce and over the past 17 years they have created 65 percent of net new jobs.”

Small Business Saturday was started by American Express and 130 partners last year in an attempt to help drive up small business sales in local communities. This year’s event looks to improve upon the numbers from its inaugural year where 1.5 million Facebook users “liked” the Small Business Saturday Facebook page and American Express reported a 28 percent jump in sales from the same Saturday the previous year.

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