Small Business Saturday is this weekend. The day is about encouraging people to shop at local smaller businesses, especially during the holiday season.

Brianna Solberg, CFIB’s Director of Provincial Affairs, says that the rise of online shopping giants who offer low prices has taken a hit on the small business sector in recent years.

“Consumer demand is low, and around half of our members are saying that consumer demand is softer than usual for this time of year and it’s taking a hit to their confidence. So, really what we want is for people to recognize the importance of small businesses in the community, they donate to local sports teams, they support local charities.”

She adds that supporting smaller businesses has a larger impact on the local economy than supporting bigger centres.

“66 cents of every dollar we spend locally, stays within the local economy, as opposed to only 11 cents of every dollar when we shop at a big box store, so it really is important to think about where our money’s going and who we’re choosing to support.”

Small businesses have seen a decline in customers in recent years, mainly due to factors such as high costs in other parts of life and the convenience of online shopping.

Solberg says the survival of small businesses in the community relies on people who support them.

“To compete with the Amazon’s of the world, you have to basically be able to deliver on demand to consumers, and we’re just not seeing the same kind of foot traffic through the doors for small businesses. That’s what Small Business Saturday is all about, is remembering if we want these beautiful brick and mortar stores to continue to exist and to populate our downtown cores and our beautiful city streets, then we need to support them.”

CFIB data shows that 33 per cent of small businesses rely on holiday sales, Solberg encourages people to shop local whenever they can.