FREMONT, OH (Toledo News Now) - The holiday season means extra business for retailers, but how are smaller, locally-owned stores competing with the national chains?
To help celebrate Christmas and local businesses, the shops of downtown Fremont have been holding special Black Friday deals every Friday in December.
“Black Fridays” is sponsored by the non-profit organization Downtown Fremont and by the Fremont Business Bureau. All downtown stores hold special open houses during extended hours and feature special sales to draw more traffic to the area. Santa also puts in an appearance.
Local store owners have seen an increase in frequent shoppers over the years and have a theory as to why more people are choosing to shop local:
“Customer service, customer satisfaction, backed with quality products,” said Gerry Gonya, co-owner of Harvey Oaks Jewelers. “And that's what we can do that a lot of the big stores can't, we can offer that one-on-one personal service.”
The stores of downtown Fremont will have extended business hours until Tuesday, Dec. 23.
