CHICAGO (NewsNation Now) — This weekend is a big one not only for Black Friday and the big box retailers, but also for Small Business Saturday and local shops all across the country.

“So that’s the perk of shopping a small boutique like this, pretty much for the most part you are the only one in the store,” said Calla Kavulich, Owner of Well Heeled Boutique in Moosic, Pennsylvania.

In St. Louis, Missouri local store Paper Dolls Boutique opened a pop-up shop to try to promote gift giving traffic. 

“We are on the struggle bus if you want to call it that,” said Lisa Schmidt, General Manager at Paper Dolls. “I think I can speak for everybody, we definitely now, more than ever, need the support of all of our customers in order to get through this pandemic and for us to continue on and hopefully make this a permanent location.”  

There are some businesses that began during the pandemic, including Triple Nikel out of San Antonio.

CEO Ruben Ayala is a former Army Green Beret. He said, “If it wasn’t for COVID there would be no Triple Nikel.” 

Ayala, along with 3 friends who are also veterans, used quarantine and the social issues of 2020 to develop a brand.

“Within the veteran community what I saw was just a lack of diversity and an amplification of everything that was going on that was dividing our country.”  

A month since its inception, Triple Nikel is now staring at the pinnacle of shopping every year, and Ayala knows this weekend is vital for the bottom line but also to make an impression on shoppers. 

“It’s an indicator to me how well we are doing,” said Ayala. “For us obviously we want to do well as a business but at the same time we want to ensure that the message is being amplified to our customers.” 

Small Business Saturday is November 28th, followed by Cyber Monday on the 30th.