Small Business Saturday is a big deal for a lot of Jefferson City retailers.
Owners and managers of the community's smaller retailers said it gives them a one-day boost every year, while providing great deals for their customers.
The day allows shoppers to celebrate and support small businesses and all they do, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration. American Express helps support the push by providing items, such as buttons and shopping bags, which businesses can give away to customers.
"This is one of our biggest days of the year," said Linda Gardner-Goos, with The Art Bazaar, at 1502 E. High St.
The store offers hand-made items from a cooperative of about 30 local artists - plushes, jewelry, glass and wood creations, and much more.
She said, normally, the bazaar avoids over-marketing to its client list, but as the annual day nears, it sends emails and reminders on Facebook.
The store was very busy Saturday morning, Gardner-Goos said.
As were stores downtown.
C.C. McClure, manager at Downtown Book & Toy, remained busy pinning buttons on children's jackets and passing out free goodies. The toy store tried to give fidget-spinners or bookmarks to each child who entered the store.
"We latched onto this one really early. I think this is the seventh or eighth year," McClure said. "It's a really big day for us."
In addition to giveaways for children, the bookstore had a treat for adults - free cookbooks.
"We think giveaways are important. We've been accumulating cookbooks all year long," she said.
The store buys books from publishers all year long. Some, being non-returnable, would otherwise collect on the shelves and take up space. Small Business Saturday is a chance to turn those overstocked books into gifts for shoppers.
Angie Even and her mother, Carol Even, spent the morning shopping for unique toys for family members. They said they found items they can't find anywhere else. Angie said she got "Little Golden Books" for her young niece and "Word Slam" - a word-based guessing game - for an older child.
"We always like to come here and shop locally for the Saturday," she said.
A 6-foot plastic keyboard stretched out on the floor near the door greeted people who entered Carrie's Hallmark during the event. Like Tom Hanks and Robert Loggia in the movie "Big," people stopped and admired it. Some plinked on it; others tried to play tunes.
Then, they'd move on and find bargains.
Multiple generations of family members shopped together during the annual event.
Sammie Kirchner, her daughter, Danelle Stockman, and her granddaughter, Taylor Stockman, made a day of it.
"We've been wanting to come up here for a long time. We like to come up here," Kirchner said. "We decided today was the day."
Kirchner added she was looking at everything the Hallmark store had to offer - and there was a lot. She said she'd continue roaming and shopping until she found just the right "stuff," even if it meant going around the store twice.
And what she didn't find there, Kirchner might find elsewhere.
"Jefferson City is unique," McClure said. "We have this huge, local following. Everyone wants to shop on the internet, but they want to support local stores."