Southern Illinois News

As a member of the House’s Economic Opportunity & Equity committee, Illinois state Rep. Patrick Windhorst (R-Metropolis) is always thinking of ways to improve the landscape for small business owners.

The Thanksgiving holiday weekend was no exception, as Windhorst took time to encourage residents across Illinois to be mindful of Small Business Saturday on Nov. 30.

“Did you know that for every dollar spent at a small business in the U.S., approximately 67 cents stays in the local community,” Windhorst said in a post to Facebook. “Today is Small Business Saturday, so if you are able, please consider shopping local today to keep our friends and neighbors working and thriving.”

Now in its ninth year, Small Business Saturday was launched by American Express in 2010 to help struggling business owners stay afloat in the midst of the recession. Since then, the first Saturday after Thanksgiving has been slated as a time to patronize what many consider pillars of the national economy.

In 2011, U.S. lawmakers got on board with the concept, with the senate unanimously passing a resolution in support of the day and all 50 states aligning to participate. Since then, business associations, nonprofit trade groups, municipalities and more public officials have joined to help push spending for the day past $100 billion through 2018.  

Early indications are that this year’s event brought about a whole new element, with Market Watch reporting that consumers spent upward of $3.6 billion buying online from small business owners. That’s an 18-percent increase over last year and early projections are that sales could jump by as much as 15 percent overall this year. 

Top-selling items in 2019 included toys from Disney’s “Frozen 2,” “Madden 20” and “FIFA 20” video games, Amazon’s Fire TV and Apple AirPods.

Still in his first term in Springfield, Windhorst also sits on the House’s Appropriations-Human Service, Higher Education, and Human Services committees. His 118th District includes all or parts of Alexander, Gallatin, Hamilton, Hardin, Jackson, Johnson, Massac, Pulaski, Pope, Saline and Union counties.