In Valley, Small Business Saturday With A Sense Of Urgency

NORTH ANDOVER, MA -- In the eight years since American Express launched its Small Business Saturday marketing campaign, it has been embraced by small-town officials as a way to put an emphasis on shopping local and keep tax dollars close to home. Las year, shoppers spent an estimated $12.9 billion on Small Business Saturday, up from $5.5 billion in 2010, the first year of the promotion.

But in Andover, North Andover and Lawrence, Small Business Saturday has an even greater importance this year. The three communities are still undergoing the recovery effort from the Sept. 13 gas explosions that killed one and left thousands of residents without heat or hot water.

As of Wednesday, Columbia Gas of Massachusetts had restored service to 87 percent of the businesses that had lost service. But many of those businesses were closed for weeks and the towns are stepping in to offer more incentives for shoppers to buy local this holiday season.

In North Andover, the town will extend Small Business Saturday through the weekend and is offering gift cards to people who shop locally this weekend. The promotion is available on purchases made at more than 60 local businesses. For more information, including details on how to claim your card, see the town Website.

In Andover, the town is sponsoring a "family-friendly" event to draw more shoppers downtown on Saturday. The promotion runs from 11 am to 1 pm and includes a "Touch A Truck" event. There will also be a limited number of giveaways and other promotional events.

"The last few months have been challenging for residents and businesses alike," Town Manager Andrew Flanagan said. "This will kick off a major effort to both celebrate our business community and accelerate its recovery."

Andover is also offering free parking at certain metered spots and town-owned lots through the end of the year.

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Patch file photo via Shutterstock.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).