The first week of May is National Small Business Week. This week is to honor, highlight, and celebrate small businesses across the country, and we want to make an extra effort to celebrate the small businesses in our community. Downtown Macon is home to over 400 small businesses. 54 restaurants, 30 bars and venues, 37 boutiques and retailers, and 9 museums and attractions all contribute to our vibrant downtown experience.
For every $100 spent in our community at local stores, $68 stays in Macon. We encourage you to support local businesses year-round, but this week especially! Below, please find five simple ways you can support small businesses in downtown Macon.
- Dine with your favorite restaurants.
This week, forget packing a lunch. Instead, bring your office buddies out to lunch downtown. If you are a busy, on-the-go parent, you can also support local businesses. Order takeout and grab your food on the way home for the whole family. There is every type of restaurant downtown so you will be able to find something to fulfill all of your cravings.
- Tip generously.
When you visit a coffee shop, restaurant, bar, or receive any service, make sure you tip the worker for their hard work. The past few years have been challenging for the service industry. If you receive a discount or free delivery, take the money that you are saving and instead add it to your normal tip. This will go a long way! Downtown Macon is cool because of our amazing service workers. Show your appreciation to them in tips and by treating them kindly every day!
- Share small business’s posts on social media.
With the click of one button, you can spread awareness about a small business to your friends. According to Hostinger, 55% of customers learn about a business through social media. When you share a post, you become an advocate for their product. Think about it this way – when you share one of their posts to your Facebook feed or
Instagram story, people become interested. Then, hopefully, a couple of your followers make a purchase, and now you have directly helped this business.
- Buy a gift card.
Even if you cannot make it to a small business this week, you can support them by buying gift cards. A gift card is the perfect way to treat yourself or someone special in your life. Go ahead and grab birthday gifts for everyone in your family – gift cards to downtown Macon businesses. They will LOVE it!
- Leave positive reviews online.
Positive reviews go a long way online. The more reviews a business has, the more credible they are. And even more important, the higher a business is rated, the more likely you are to go there. Take a few minutes this week and leave a positive review for some of the businesses in downtown Macon.
Head to First Friday in downtown Macon this Friday to play “Small Business Bingo” with NewTown Macon. If you make bingo, you will be entered to win a $100 gift card to the downtown business of your choice. Pick up your bingo card from 5:30 to 7:30 pm in Third Street Park.