Shop Bellevue Christmas Walk

BELLEVUE, Ky. (WXIX) - The Saturday after Thanksgiving and Black Friday is designated as Small Business Saturday.

In the city of Bellevue, shoppers were encouraged to get out and shop at their local small business and support them for all they do in their communities.

“Everybody could just go on the internet and buy whatever they want and they could still have a merry Christmas,” said Bellevue Mayor, Charlie Cleves.

But for Mayor Cleves, it’s not the same as shopping at your local small business.

“These little shops are so diverse, and they’ve got such neat things to offer,” he says.

Saturday marked the last day of Bellevue’s annual Shop Bellevue Christmas Walk to celebrate Small Business Saturday.

”It’s days like this where a lot of people descend here and buy stuff and make their purchases for Christmas here. It means everything to these little stores,” Mayor Cleves says.

Mayor Cleves says last year more than 900 residents participated. And one of the small businesses profiting from events like this is actually owned by Mayor Cleves’s son, Michael.

“We definitely see an increase in Small Business Saturday over other Saturdays. For businesses like us, it’s a fantastic way to boost holiday sales,” Michael said.

Michael says for a small business, community support is the key to growth.

”We’re a community. We all need to work together and if you keep the value in your community, it grows,” he said.

The Shop Bellevue Christmas Walk started Friday morning and consists of various events including a tree lighting, which Mayor Cleves says tends to draw hundreds of people.

”This is what keeps our city alive,” Mayor Cleves explains. “This is what brings us together. Holds our city together, all these series of shops.”

Small Business Saturday was cosponsored by the U.S. Small Business Administration in 2011. Since then, it has become one of the busiest times of the shopping season for small businesses.

The 2022 Small Business Saturday Consumer Survey estimated that consumers who shopped on Small Business Saturday reached an estimated 17.9 billion dollars.

“These shops need some really good days because you could have a decent business but we want them to thrive. We don’t want them just to survive,” Mayor Cleves says.

The Bellevue Christmas walk ends at 9 p.m. Saturday.