One random day at the beginning of the holiday buying season, I was checking my Facebook page and noticed that one of my friends became a fan of the Small Business Saturday page which was created by American Express. Since I just started my very small Children’s Boutique online, I was curious and decided to become a fan as well. The concept behind this page was initially for people to support small businesses by purchasing their holiday items from small businesses, and if you purchased these items using your AMEX card they would give you $25 cash back. That is great for a company this big to spotlight smaller businesses and help promote all the wonderful mom and pop stores that we have in our cities. Think about it, how many times have you gone into the local stores for items that you need? Most people run right to Walmart or Target. These small businesses are owned by your neighbors, your family and people just like you. You have the ability to actually know the owner and establish a relationship. If the CEO of “Big Business” saw you in the supermarket would he say “Hi (your name) how is the family?”, the answer is no, but the CEO of a small business would. We all know that the customer service from smaller businesses is Superior to those of the “big” guys, because in the end they really don’t care because losing one customer does not impact their bottom line. There are many wonderful small businesses in your area physically and online, why not support someone like you in 2011. Here is a list of my favorite small local and online businesses. Please post a comment of your favorite small business or tell us about yours: