Small Business Saturday Winter Wonderland in Flint a success | News

FLINT, Mich.  (WJRT) – Downtown Flint was transformed into a Winter Wonderland to support small businesses Saturday.

The event was a collaboration between Metro Community Development, Flint Downtown Development Authority, the City of Flint and the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce.

“With so much foot traffic that happens on small business Saturday we wanted to take the opportunity to bring some of the outlying businesses and bring them downtown so they can take advantage of that foot traffic,”  said Tiffany Bernethy, Commercial Loan Officer with Metro Community Development.

Participating businesses were offered free table space inside a large heated tent along 2nd Street, other existing retailers in the downtown area also took part in the first ever Small Business Saturday Winter Wonderland.

Shoppers enjoyed the variety of items for sale and the sense of community.  “My favorite part is bringing the people together,” said Ian Hodges.  “I like it when the community gets together, that’s my favorite part.”

Vendors are hoping more events are planned in the future.  

“I think it’s fantastic, I think we should do more of it,” said Casey Lester with the online retail shop The Roman.  “Being able to create shared space with synergy between other business owners is wonderful .”

Other business owners agreed.  “It’s giving me exposure to other customers I wound not normally have,” Pamela Price, owner of Priceless Consignment Closet Experience told ABC 12.  “I am also getting to know the other business owners that I can potentially buy from as well.” 

The Small Business Saturday campaign was founded by American Express in 2010 and co-sponsored by the Small Business Association in 2011.