KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City-area artists got a jump on Small Business Saturday during the 12th annual Holiday Swing at Merry Market in the City Market in KCMO.
“It’s just so fun to be around the other artisans and to get to meet other people that are kind of doing similar things,” said Shara Derks, co-owner at Embers Candle Bar. “Just to be surrounded by locally made, handmade stuff.”
Stores benefitted from mixing shoppers already out for Black Friday with people hoping to shop local this holiday season.
“I mean so far so good for us,” Derks said. “It’s kind of trying to find that middle ground to still make money and stay in business and people not feeling gouged when they commit to shop local either.”
The National Retail Federation expects holiday sales in November and December to increase by about 6-8% this year. When factoring in inflation, it is actually a decline.
Shoppers had mixed feelings about shopping for the holiday season this year.
“Inflation has been hard right? It makes it hard to buy groceries and gas,” Sally Stratmann said. “But, we also love Kansas City and we love shopping locally and it’s important to support local business.”
On the other hand, some people are putting their concerns aside.
“It’s easy around this time of year to kind of urge yourself to put the concerns to the backside and get stuff for your friends and loved ones,” said Bryant Hutton, who was out shopping Friday.
The Holiday Swing runs through Dec. 18, 2022. The Market is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
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