Asheville, NC is a town that is full of locally owned and operated stores. Many of these stores offer living wage pay and give their employees many different benefits that larger corporations may not. One of the main benefits of shopping at a locally owned store though is the fact that the money goes back into the pockets of your neighbor and also back into the local community. The way in which many local businesses buy their stock is from other local or fair sourced businesses. Local stores are a great way to meet locals and learn about all of the other attractions in the local area. Asheville is able to use its local businesses to create a thriving tourist market.

Within the Asheville local business community there is a yearly "Best of WNC" contest that is held by the Mountain Xpress. This yearly contest rates many local businesses into different categories. Not only is there food and beer categories, but there are also best bookstore categories.

Local businesses are one of the easiest ways to be able to help your local economy and to also help your neighbors. There has recently been a movement every November to encourage people to shop at small local stores. This movement is called "Small Business Saturday," and is on November 26 of 2016. This movement is called a, "counterpart of Black Friday and Cyber Monday," but without the large boxed stores getting the income. Small Business Saturday was started in 2010 and has since then begun to be observed each year since then during the mid-November shopping spree that sweeps across America.

But, you shouldn't need a special day to support your local businesses, you can do that everyday of the year. Attending farmer's markets, buying gifts at local boutiques, and even shopping at locally owned grocery stores are only three of the many ways in which you can support local and small businesses. Of course you don't have to support only your town's small businesses, you can go to any town and find a small business to support.

So go out there and find your small business for Small Business Saturday!