Saturday is big for small businesses

The Beekman Boys, Josh Kilmer-Purcell, left, and Brent Ridge of Sharon Springs, sign one of their cookbooks for Sarah Beach of Schenectady at The Open Door Bookstore on Jay Street Saturday, November 29, 2014.

The Beekman Boys may have their own reality TV show, but you wouldn’t know it from walking into The Open Door Bookstore on Jay Street Saturday.

Josh Kilmer-Purcell and his husband, Brent Ridge, were just two small business owners — not all that different from the owners of the some 40 shops that offered sales and promotions for Small Business Saturday. The two were at the book store signing their three cookbooks, mingling with shoppers and selling their line of artisanal farm-made products, Beekman 1802. Jams, fudge sauces and soap made from goat milk were displayed on a table in the center of the store.

“We’re a small business — we’re a tiny business in Sharon Springs, New York — so we know what it’s like to try to get a thriving local community to come support your business,” said Kilmer-Purcell.

The couple’s show, “The Fabulous Beekman Boys,” airs on Cooking Channel and chronicles the New York City transplants’ efforts to turn the 60-acre farm into a sustainable business. Kilmer-Purcell and Ridge said they started the day working at their shop in Sharon Springs, and would be returning after the book-signing to make the most of the day’s potential sales.

“We’re just neighbors,” Kilmer-Purcell said.

“Local guys made good,” Ridge said.

The Open Door bustled with customers on Small Business Saturday, an event founded by American Express in 2010 that encourages people to buy local on the day after Black Friday. Store owner Janet Hutchison said the number of customers on the Saturday has grown every year since.

“People are enjoying supporting their small local spots, which is great,” she said.

Hutchison said it’s important to buy from local businesses because the money goes to the local economy. At big chain stores, she said, “half the money has to go to headquarters.”

“It stays right here, and most local businesses also use local suppliers and local companies,” she said.

Mayor Gary McCarthy, who was among the bookstore shoppers, said the promotional day is part of the city’s revitalization efforts. In Schenectady, the shopping day was organized by The Chamber of Schenectady County, the Downtown Schenectady Improvement Corp. and the Upper Union Street Business Improvement District.

“We’re trying to get people out to shop local and take advantage of the retail that exists here in downtown Schenectady and also on upper Union Street, and throughout the community,” the mayor said, “so it’s just part of the turnaround.”

A block away at The Katbird Shop on Liberty Street, owner Kathy Fitzmaurice said small businesses have more at stake in the community than corporations.

“Walmart doesn’t care,” she said. “Your small business owners live in the area, they have family in the area typically, so they’re more committed, and you want to keep them here.”

She said business was “absolutely smashing” Saturday.

Wendy Liebl of Scotia was one of her customers. She purchased a Phoenix Pottery mug made in Pawling, in Dutchess County, which she planned to contribute to a “family grab bag” come Christmas.

“I don’t know who will get it,” she said. “I might even pick it myself.”

She said Small Business Saturday encouraged her to do some local shopping.

“It really did,” she said. “I kept seeing the commercial with the Simon & Garfunkel song, and I put the date in my head.”

Back on Jay Street, at the New York Folklore Society, gallery manager Laurie Longfield said business was benefitting from all the foot traffic.

“There’s been a good number of sales,” she said.

Longfield said the gallery showcases New York artists while also seeking to preserve their ethnic traditions — the artwork is at once local, global and multicultural. She pointed to a display of colorful birds and frogs made from glass beads, the work of Westchester County artist Bernard Domingo, who hails from Zimbabwe.

“This is a good example of an artist who’s carrying on the tradition of his heritage in New York state,” she said.

Back at The Open Door, Judy Peck had “The Beekman 1802 Vegetable Cookbook” signed as a Christmas gift for her daughter, Pam Peck. They had gone to the Beekman 1802 mercantile store together a few years ago when Pam, who was visiting from Oregon, told her about it.

“I wanted to come and buy her a cookbook and get it signed by them, and it’s just great,” said Peck after posing for a picture with the authors and her granddaughter, Paige Peck, 18, who was visiting from California.

Judy Peck knew Kilmer-Purcell and Ridge were on TV, but had never seen the show and didn’t know what channel it was on. Her granddaughter knew even less about the couple’s celebrity status.

“There’s a show?” Paige asked.