D’Amico Encourages Shoppers to Participate in Small Business Saturday

CHICAGO – State Rep. John D’Amico, D-Chicago, is encouraging residents to shop local this weekend in an effort to support small businesses during the holiday season rush that often benefits big-box stores over locally-owned shops.

“Small Business Saturday is a way to draw attention to the importance of small businesses in our community who struggle during the holiday season to compete with bigger chain restaurants and stores,” D’Amico said. “Places like Monastero’s that have been around for fifty years can often get overlooked, but it’s important that we take the time to support places like them and give our small businesses the opportunity to keep our local economic engine churning.”

Saturday, Nov. 26 will be the 7th annual Small Business Saturday, which was created to help small businesses compete with large retailers between the busy shopping days of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Shopping locally helps provide jobs for area residents, tax revenue, sponsorships for community groups, support for charities, and excellent personalized services.

“Small businesses are the backbone of our economy. They employ most people in this country and create the majority of jobs. But small businesses can’t compete with corporations who unfairly take taxpayer-funded incentives and then ship jobs overseas just so they can keep their prices down,” D’Amico said. “I believe that any company that ships American jobs overseas should refund its tax breaks. It’s time we close corporate loopholes in Illinois, and put small businesses on an even playing field with these big box retailers.”
For more information on Small Business Saturday, business owners and the public can visit www.smallbusinesssaturday.com. For more information on any state-related issues, please contact D’Amico’s full-time constituent service office at 773-736-0218 or johnd@ilga.gov.
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