Small businesses Saturday

So, I heard today that there is an event for small businesses in Howard County to promote themselves, particularly in light of the big stores capitalising on the Black Friday retail craziness.

Hoorah for the small businesses!

Saturday 30 November is the date.

Howard County has a surprising number of small businesses and boutique shops, and I frequent a lot of them because they are just lovely.

Greenberries, Vintage Bliss, A Journey from Junk, Sweet Elizabeth Jane – oooh I love them all! The big store thing in America can be overwhelming….and this type of shopping has taken over the UK retail parks too, threatening the UK high street.

In Ellicott City

This is the big store conundrum: I get in my car and I drive to one shop at a retail park, and then I get in my car and drive to the next parking lot and I go to another store in another part of the retail park, and then…well, you get the idea.

The small businesses are where the personality and character are. And you can WALK to most of them, cos they are in a high street or a small complex with other small businesses.

On Black Friday I shan’t be queueing at the big stores – not me! (Actually, I’m working, but that’s besides the point!) I shall make a concerted effort to go and support the small businesses of Howard County on 30 November, and it would be totally brillopads* if other folk would do this too 🙂

*Brillopads – I was asked for an explanation of this word by an American blog reader and I explained it thus: It sort of means totally brilliant in a pseudo posh school girl sort of way. I’m not sure who coined the phrase, but in my head I did…! (I am not sure now if I did – I think I stole it from Miranda on the BBC….!)

FYI, Urban Dictionary gives some less genteel explanations of this word…. 😉

These are also Brillo-pads, but I don’t mean them….

Americans do do crackers (well, some of them and some of them do not know what they are 😉 )

After my post yesterday, some American folk declared: ‘We do do crackers!’ (And one thought I meant crackers like biscuits…)

And they are available in many, many shops, I am reliably informed.

But, some said, ‘Nope, never heard of them or use them or care about them’, as well as, ‘My in-laws in Virginia had never seen them before.’

So, I have concluded thus about crackers: some people in America have heard of them and some people have not.

This is an example of an American Christmas dinner table, using crackers:

With crackers…

Without crackers…..

And there we have it. Crackers for everyone, I say!