Bargain Hunters Take Full Advantage Of Small Business Saturday

BURBANK (CBSLA.com)   —   With Black Friday a distant memory, shoppers looked elsewhere for bargains and deals.

CBS2's Tina Patel was in Burbank where many shoppers took part in Small Business Saturday.

Owning a small business can be tough. That's why this year, Donna Ricci invited fellow small business owners to join her for a Harry Potter-themed celebration.

"Just like you would find in Diagon Alley. there are lots of little shops and they're all special and they have their own unique thing, and you're going to go there for that," said Ricci, owner of Geeky Teas & Games.

The strategy seemed to be working. There was a steady stream of customers throughout the day, happy to find unique gifts at reasonable prices.

"We couldn't find any of this stuff, no way. are you kidding, mall prices? It'd be super expensive, triple the price," said shopper Celina Alvarez.

Small businesses around Burbank were happy to get a little extra foot traffic this day. And the hope is, of course, the extra shoppers think of these stores on many days before they are done with their holiday shopping.

Christine Andelfinger says she's been making an effort to visit the smaller shops in her neighborhood.

"More and more, my sister and I are really getting into it. especially the really small clothing stores that are here, they're all manufactured here in LA they're run by the same small handful of people, you start to know them by name, you start to know shopkeepers by name," says Andelfinger.

Ricci says more shoppers can get that kind of personal interaction if they support small business. She says there is also an added bonus to that .

"You know that your money actually stays in the community when you spend it in a local, small business," Ricci says.