The Downtown Boise Association has spurred an initiative to help local businesses in downtown get their piece of the pie during the holiday shopping season.
Downtown Boise has the largest concentration of independent businesses in Idaho. Nearly 60 shops are participating in this program, and those businesses are selling everything from food and drinks, to clothing, art, and outdoor gear.
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"It is one of our biggest shopping days of the year," said Lana Roth of Banana Ink. "It is about creating community and supporting our community, and we love seeing people come out and do that."
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Banana Ink opened in 2011, and it features its own brand of Idaho-focused clothing.
Banana Ink offers unique merchandise from other makers in the area. The business celebrates Small Business Saturday by letting customers pop balloons to get discounts. And they even serve up free cookies and coffee.
"I just like to say thank you to everyone in the Treasure Valley for supporting local today, and I mean not even today, but every day," said Roth.
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McU Sports has been helping people in Boise get the outdoor gear they need since 1971. This local business featured 20 percent off nearly everything in the store along with some special deals ahead of ski season.
"We have specials on goggles and helmets," said Joe Koehler. "We have a buy one get one free, so if you get a helmet, you get a free pair of goggles, and you pay for whatever is the more expensive of the two."
McU Sports told us they might keep some of these deals on Sunday; it's still up in the air.
They are thankful to the Downtown Boise Association and the people who shop on Small Business Saturday.
"It’s really important, it helps drive business to our doors, it helps the bottom line," said Koehler. "Bogus just opened today, so that is really exciting, and hopefully that will keep the ball rolling for ski season."
The Downtown Boise Association has also set up a passport with these businesses, so if people shopped at two different stores, they could enter to win three different $100 downtown gift cards. The more customers go to the stores, the better the chance they have of winning.
