CLEVELAND — Big box retailers rolled out the deals for Black Friday, but the day after, the spotlight shifts to local entrepreneurs for Small Business Saturday.

The day is aimed at supporting and celebrating small businesses, but at the Northside Marketplace in Akron, every day is focused on uplifting local entrepreneurs.

Justin Lepley is the director for the Northside Marketplace, which is home to more than 100 local vendors. 

“We really see as many sales from Thanksgiving to the end of the year as we do in the first nine months combined,” Lepley explained when talking about the importance of Small Business Saturday.

The market is a one-stop for almost anything you can dream of, from clothes, plants and self-care items to places to eat and drink. 

Kevin Thomas is the co-founder of Ohio’s only certified organic craft distillery, Western Reserve Distillers. His liquor is sold at the bar inside of the Marketplace.

“It’s difficult for local companies to kind of get brand awareness. We don’t have big marketing budgets like the big corporations do, so anything we can do to support each other goes a long ways,” Thomas said. “Small business really is the backbone that built our country. Sometimes people forget that, but we keep plugging along, and I think the entrepreneurial spirit, which is America, really made up by small companies.” 

Many local shops do something special on Small Business Saturday, like Aaron Gascon’s vintage clothing store, Modern Traditions Co., which is located inside the Northside Marketplace.

“So we are very excited, kind of ramping up, we are actually going to be offering free gift wrapping so I have some old wrapping paper from the 1940s, 1950s era,” Gascon said. “It’s very limited, so I just have a couple rolls of it. I plan to if someone wants to have something wrapped as a gift, I want to offer that to customers who shop on that day.”