Small business owners participating in ‘Small Business Saturday’ are invited to add information about any special promotions in the comment section of this article.

By Ronni Newton

We-Ha.com is a small local business itself, and we are supported by local advertisers. We understand, and would like to do what we can to support other local business owners get the word out to the public about Small Business Saturday, Nov. 29, 2014.

Small Business Saturday began in 2010, and was founded by American Express as a way to encourage support for local businesses. In West Hartford, local business owners Laura Keever and Mary Kate Doyle of Work In Progress Fitness have been selected as 2014 Neighborhood Champions by American Express, and were tasked with raising the awareness of Small Business Saturday and rallying support for neighborhood businesses.

“Social Media is such an important tool in our small business, so we had the idea to create a Facebook page where local, West Hartford Businesses can post their deal, event or specials for Small Business Saturday, then work together and share clients and resources to get the word out to as many people as possible. Consumers can then go to one spot to see the list of businesses participating and offering deals for that day,” said Keever in an email. “When you shop small, independent locally owned businesses, 52 percent of what you spend stays in our community supporting local organizations and services. You can get a great deal AND support your town by shopping local,” she said.

Work In Progress Fitness, which is owned by two West Hartford women, will be offering a special on our punch cards on Small Business Saturday, Keever said. The deal is $30 for a 3 class card (max 2), which is a savings of 33 percent. Cards can be purchased online, said Keever. Work In Progress Fitness offers boot camp style, group fitness classes combining strengthening moves with quick cardio sequences to offer a total body workout in less than one hour.  For more information, visit www.wipfitness.com.

Toy Chest in West Hartford Center also emailed We-Ha.com already with its Small Business Saturday promotion: “In appreciation of our customer support we will be offering the following: All regularly priced Alex Art Supplies and Alex Craft Projects will be 20 percent off as well as All Aden and Anais Baby products will be 10 percent off on Saturday.”

Since there are people and businesses not on Facebook, we would like to also offer We-Ha.com as a resource for spreading the word about Small Business Saturday.

If you are a local business participating in Small Business Saturday, please feel free to add information about any promotional offers in the comments below, and share this article through social media!