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The Washington merchants
have another reason to expect it
to be a big day this year, she add-
ed. The State Farm Tournament
of Champions basketball tourna-
ment the week of Thanksgiv-
ing will be at Washington High
School and at Illinois Central
College, with the finals games at
the high school that last weekend
of November.
“
We should have a big turnout
of people in town that weekend
and our merchants will be ready
for them,” Ruder said.
As will merchants in Peoria
Heights, said Pat Drake, presi-
dent of the Peoria Heights Cham-
ber of Commerce and herself a
small business owner.
“
Small Business Saturday is
very important to our merchants.
We’ve learned shoppers do come
out that day to support our small
businesses and we appreciate it,”
she said.
One promotion the Heights
chamber is doing is allowing
shoppers on Small Business
Saturday to register to win up to
$300 worth of “chamber bucks,”
which can then be used with any
Peoria Heights merchant.
Another push for helping small
business is the 3/50 Project that
started roughly a year earlier
than Small Business Saturday.
In fact, 3/50 Project founder
Cinda Baxter was the national
spokesperson for Small Business
Saturday that first year.
The 3/50 Project’s motto is
“
Saving the brick and mortar our
nation is built on.”
The project asks shoppers to
decide which three independent-
ly owned business they would
miss if they no longer existed,
then asks them to visit those
businesses and spent at least $50
in them. The theory is if enough
people did that, many small busi-
nesses could be saved.
The 3/50 Project contends that
if half of the employed popula-
tion spent $50 a month in the in-
dependently owned businesses it
would generate more than $42.6
billion in revenue.
Another number the organiza-
tion brings up is 68.
“
For every $100 spent in lo-
cally owned independent stores
$68 returns to the community
through taxes, payroll and other
expenditures. If you spend that
in a national chain only $43 stays
here. Spend it online and nothing
comes home,” the 3/50 Project
said.
Baxter, the Project founder,
said she is a retail consultant
whose mission is to strengthen
independent brick and mortar
businesses. A former retail store
owner herself, she said she wants
to pay forward the knowledge
and expertise gleaned from that
experience.
She said on the 3/50 Project
website that when she is asked
what she does, she responds, “I
hand Superman capes to small
business owners, then teach them
to fly.”
For more information about
the 3/50 Project, including how
to lend your support, the local
stores and businesses that are
affiliates and how it defines inde-
pendent businesses, visit
For more information about
Small Business Saturday visit
or find it on Facebook.
