Small Business Shopping | Video

Alex Hagan | 11/23/2012

When you think about Black Friday you think of big box stores like Best Buy, Target and Walmart. It turns out the biggest shopping day of the year is also a great opportunity for mom and pop stores to boost sales. Those stores are not just holding their deals for Small Business Saturday. Some downtown businesses in Bismarck had plenty of traffic today.

Black Friday shopping got underway last night for Big Box stores as residents waited in line for hours for the cheapest deals. Lot 2029 in downtown bismarck wasn`t open last night, but had around 30 people waiting outside this morning for Black Friday deals. The store offers a wide variety of women`s apparel.

"They don`t do any big time advertising, but they have this cult following and the pieces here you will not find anywhere else," said shopper Jillian Lagasse.

"I think just style-wise it`s a little more current and a little different," said shopper Merete Syvrud.

The store has been open for more than a year and business has steadily picked up for the holidays.

"It`s kind of like the little store that could do it," said owner Madonna Wald.

But how does a small mom and pop store compete with big discount stores? Owners say it starts with the pricing and uniqueness.

"We go to market and we do selections based on style, quality and pricing," Wald said.

The same goes for Feist Electronics in downtown Bismarck. The store doesn`t offer the doorbuster sales like Best Buy, but employees say they offer holiday deals through the winter season.

"The companies are allowing us to give some pricing as some of the discount stores so we can offer these specials as well," said owner Clarence Sayler.

They also say the products they sell are much better than the deals customers look for at discount stores.

"We`ve got higher quality product that we sell here if somebody`s looking for something of real good quality, there going to come to Feist Electronics or one of the independent places," Sayler said. "Second of all we do have the service. We have the electronic service, we have been a big service store for many many years."

Some shoppers say they will do most of their holiday shopping at the smaller retail stores.

"There`s a lot of good gifts, I got to get my mom and sisters a couple gifts so It`s a great place to find gifts," Lagasse said.

Mom and pop stores may be the place to go in Bismarck for the gift giving season. Lot 2029 will still have plenty of deals for Small Business Saturday as well. Meanwhile, Feist Electronics has had sales all week.

　

COMMENT ON THIS STORY

BACK TO NEWS | BACK TO BISMARCK STORIES