By RYN HERRMANN
Director
Los Alamos Chamber of Commerce
The holiday shopping season is critical to our local small businesses. This year’s Small Business Saturday is Nov. 27 and we have a lot planned!
Small Business Saturday: Saturday, Nov. 27
Blue Bucks Raffle: Nov. 20 – Dec. 11
More than ever the Chamber, MainStreet and the Creative District will be promoting your small businesses for Small Business Saturday and how shoppers can safely make purchases. We are trying to spread the shopping period out to capture and incentivize the early shoppers. You can participate in as much, or as little, of Small Business Saturday as you like, but please plan ahead so you can be included in the marketing effort!
Plan EARLY this Year
Plan a promotion, feature a new product/service or create a Small Business Saturday special for your menu. Do you have a unique item for us to put in the Los Alamos Holiday Gift Guide? Let us know what you have planned and we will help promote it! But please let us know ASAP!
FREE Advertising in the Daily Post
Thanks to Enterprise Bank & Trust, businesses that participate in the Blue Bucks Raffle will each be promoted through the Los Alamos Daily Post with a special online piece about each business, for FREE! These Small Business Saturday Highlights will also be included in the special Small Business Saturday print edition of the Daily Post that comes out the day before Thanksgiving on Wednesday, Nov. 24. REGISTER by Monday, November 8 to be included for FREE! If you do not register by this date, you will not be in the print edition.
Blue Bucks Raffle
Enterprise Bank & Trust will again be sponsoring the award-winning Blue Bucks Raffle, which will run from Saturday, Nov. 20 through Saturday, Dec. 11.
An update to the program this year: each minimum purchase of $10 will receive just one ticket, instead of one ticket for every $25 spent. We hope this will level the playing field and allow smaller businesses to be competitive for a chance to win the big cash prize. So now when a customer makes a purchase of at least $10 at your business, you will give them one Enterprise Bank & Trust “Blue Bucks Raffle” ticket to fill out with their name, phone number and your business name, which you will collect. Businesses can fill out the raffle tickets for online shoppers or to-go diners. As in the past, purchases made in person or online on the actual Small Business Saturday, Nov. 27, will be worth double tickets.
Your customers will have a chance to win these great cash and gift card prizes, courtesy of Enterprise Bank & Trust:
- (1) $1,000 cash prize;
- (1) $500 cash prize;
- (2) $250 cash prizes; and
- many gift certificates or merchandise from participating businesses!
And of course, the business that gives out the $1,000 winning ticket also will receive $1,000!
A Chamber representative will be visiting every participating business to purchase a gift card or merchandise to be included as prizes.
So sign up now to be a part of Los Alamos Small Business Saturday. REGISTER by Nov. 8 to participate. Please email Ufemia Bernal Rios ufemia@losalamos.org with questions or for help signing up to participate.
Holiday Shopping Guide
Los Alamos Creative District, MainStreet and the Chamber will again be producing the Los Alamos Holiday Shopping Guide, brought to you by Del Norte Credit Union. Please let us know what unique product or service you would like to highlight this year by emailing Jeremy Smith with a brief description and jpg image of the item. For examples, you can find previous guides on the bottom of the MainStreet website HERE. The shopping guide will be digital and also published in the Los Alamos Daily Post special Small Business Saturday section that comes out Wednesday, Nov. 24.
Please note that the shopping guide will publish earlier than ever this year to best capture shoppers. Please submit your items to be considered by Monday, Nov. 8. Items submitted after this date will not be in the printed Holiday Shopping Guide, the print edition of the Los Alamos Daily Post or the Daily Post digital online version, but will be promoted through social media and featured on the Chamber webpage.
Small Business Saturday Tax Holiday
Don’t forget that Saturday, Nov. 27, 2021 is also once again a New Mexico Gross Receipts Tax Holiday! For this one day, the state suspends collection of gross receipts tax on sales of qualifying items at certain small businesses. Find more information HERE.
Give to a Charity
A Small Business Saturday tradition in Los Alamos and White Rock is for the participating businesses to donate a portion of their Small Business Saturday proceeds to a nonprofit of their choice. This has always set Los Alamos County apart from all other communities that observe American Express’ Small Business Saturday. The businesses each select what percentage, or flat dollar amount, they want to donate to a local, statewide, national or international charity. Anything goes, including choosing not to participate in the tradition. If you choose to give to a charity, please let us know so we can promote this in a separate article.
Los Alamos Businesses that sell Gift Cards
Also as part of Small Business Saturday, the Chamber, along with Los Alamos MainStreet and the Creative District, will again produce a list of the businesses in town that sell gift cards. Gift cards make great gifts and are an easy way to show your support for small businesses. Send the list to out of town relatives to make their holiday shopping easy! To be included on the Los Alamos Businesses Gift Card List, please email Ufemia Bernal Rios by Monday, Nov. 8.
Questions?
Email ryn@losalamos.org or ufemia@losalamos.org at the Los Alamos Chamber, or call 505.661.4816. Happy Small Business Saturday! And remember, Shop Small to Win Big!
