Since 2010, American Express has hosted Small Business Saturday as an alternative to Black Friday and Cyber Monday to encourage people across the country to support small, local businesses. Now in its 6th year, Small Business Saturday continues to grow after consumers spent $14.3 billion with independent retailers and restaurants on Small Business Saturday last year.

Small Business Saturday is a national celebration of the unique and invaluable shops that make our economy thrive and we want to celebrate your business through this event. We are excited to partner with the Santa Cruz County Office of Economic Development to promote Small Business Saturday this year with a goal of getting 500 local businesses signed up!

We are inviting Santa Cruz businesses to sign up to participate in Small Business Saturday and encourage the community to #ShopSmall on November 28. We will be running a social media campaign to promote all participating Santa Cruz businesses and we are excited to see what you plan to do to attract shoppers to your store for the day.

Also, the first 20 businesses that sign up will get a sampling of the Shop Small swag we received from American Express as a starter pack to help you begin promoting the event while you wait for your supplies to arrive!

For even more incentive, the Santa Cruz County Office of Economic Development will be sending press releases and running advertisements in the Santa Cruz Sentinel listing the names of participating businesses to further promote you! Participating businesses in the County's campaign must agree to cover the sales tax for all customer purchases on November 28th or offer another promotion as an incentive to shoppers. To be included in the press releases and advertisements, please sign up using the form below by November 9.

Don't forget to also sign up through American Express to receive additional free marketing materials that will help you get the most out of your Small Business Saturday. Make the day eventful, from hosting an in-store promotion to decorating your shop.

Be sure you apply by Nov 16 to receive marketing materials from American Express as supplies are limited. Sign up through American Express Here