On Black Friday, some Carson City shops are more excited for Local Business Saturday

Some people do all of their holiday shopping on Black Friday. Others do their best to avoid shopping completely and spend the day after Thanksgiving relaxing at home. The tone of Black Friday can be equally mixed with retail businesses large and small.

Giant brick-and-mortar stores like Walmart and Target are competing more than ever against online retailers. In some sense they are even competing with their own websites. Local businesses are often fighting for sales with corporate chain stores, leading some locally owned shops across the nation to forego Black Friday and adopt a different shopping holiday called Small Business Saturday. Small Business Saturday was created by American Express in partnership with non-profit, National Trust for Historic Preservation, according to Wikipedia.

“It has been busy. Tomorrow should be even busier with Small Business Saturday,” said Sue Jones who owns The Purple Avocado on the corner of Ann and Curry Street with her husband Stan. A local gift shop in its 17th year, The Purple Avocado offers “the perfect gift for every occasion.”

Linda, a Black Friday shopper from Sacramento traveled to Carson City for holiday shopping. While approaching the register at The Purple Avocado she said, “My best friend lives in Reno and there is good shopping here. Carson City has great shopping.” She continued, “Sacramento doesn’t have a lot of small shops anymore, so it’s hard to find local stuff. Carson has a lot of local stuff.”

Nearby on John Street, a small corridor of local specialty shops is beginning to emerge. Touched by Angels Home and Garden Gift Shop, a music store - Play Your Own Music, and Deja Vu Again & Distracted - an eclectic gift and head shop.

Black Friday can be a mixed bag for small locally owned business as they are competing with the nation's largest brick and mortar and online retailers. Some Carson City shops are shifting their focus to Small Business Saturday.

“Black Friday is a corporate idea. It’s the big stores,” said Vince Gates, owner of Play Your Own Music at 112 E. John Street. “Small Business Saturday has been growing over the years and I’m seeing people going out of their way to shop at independent local businesses.”

Play Your Own Music specializes in new and used stringed and percussion instrument sales, repairs and houses multiple private lesson studios and a full recording studio on site. Customers will be offered 10 percent off on all merchandise purchases on Saturday.

Next door, Deja Vu Again & Distracted is in their first year of business at this location and is offering a 15 percent off coupon for Black Friday/Local Business Saturday shoppers. The store is locally owned by husband and wife team Sophia and Richard Pacheco. They specialize in gifts of many sorts made by local artists and the store also contains a head shop with a full offering of smoking accessories and handmade glassware.

Patchwork Giraffe is another establishment on John Street owned by Judy Lauder that specializes in clothing and fabric alterations, and repairs while also offering sewing classes and retail items such as locally crafted gemstone jewelry, earrings, knitted accessories and clothing. Patchwork Giraffe is offering 15 percent off any items in the shop as well as custom skirts and dresses on Small Business Saturday.

Little Monsters is a family operated resale store offering apparel, bedding, toys and accessories of all kinds for babies and children.

“Because we’re a resale shop I don’t anticipate much traffic on Black Friday. We anticipate tomorrow will be better with Small Business Saturday,” said Claudia Chambers who operates the store with her daughter. On Small Business Saturday all items are 20 percent off, and clothing with a hole punched tag are discounted 50 percent.

The Wheelhouse is a store offering skate apparel, bikes, scooters, skateboards, accessories and nutrition supplements for outdoor sports enthusiasts.

“We tried really hard the past couple of weeks getting some really good merchandise at a value we can extend to the customers,” said General Manager Teak Dopf. The Wheelhouse is offering 10 percent off all merchandise with additional markdowns on scooters and other items.

When it comes to the larger retailers in Carson City, the Carson City Sheriff’s Office had reserve deputies patrol parking lots and do business checks at various retail establishments in anticipation of a busy Black Friday weekend.

“I hope small business Saturday is a busy day for everybody. It should be with the support that the community gives to Carson City,” said Robin McGregor, owner of Carson City Art Gallery and Pottery at 110 S. Curry St. The gallery exclusively carries work by local artists representing a diverse palette of mediums.

For new local businesses, deals and more see the Carson City Downtown Business Association Facebook page here.

See a shop Carson City video produced by the Carson City Visitors Bureau here and story here.

You can view the Thanksgiving weekend event summary by CarsonNow.org for additional information about events and discounts at local businesses.

Finally, filling out the weekend is the introduction of Museum Store Sunday. More than 650 museum stores internationally including all 50 states will be open on Sunday offering relaxing, inspired shopping at museums and cultural institutions.

In Carson City, the Nevada State Museum and Nevada State Railroad Museum are participating with unique merchandise, discounts, and activities for children from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sunday.