Statewide Iowa – While today’s Black Friday sales draw droves of shoppers, Iowa’s small business owners are rallying customers to support them, too, especially this weekend on Small Business Saturday. Brad Zaun, the regional administrator for the US Small Business Administration, says many merchants are facing a tight financial squeeze this year and they’ll be eager to make sales. Zaun says he’s urging his Iowa staff to seek out local merchants and support them directly.
He says strong sales during the last several weeks of the year could make a huge difference in the bottom line for many Iowa businesses. Zaun encourages all Iowans to get back out Saturday and be a booster for Small Business Saturday.
Zaun says Iowa has 290-thousand small businesses, which encompasses 99-point-three percent of the state’s businesses. Economic forecasts call for sales to only be up two-percent for the holiday season, versus four-percent last year, while the average consumer plans to spend just under 16-hundred dollars on holiday gits, a ten-percent drop from last year. For many businesses, Zaun says December is make-or-break time.
As the SBA’s regional administrator, the Des Moines-based Zaun oversees agency offices in Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri and Kansas. He’s a former Iowa state senator, Urbandale mayor, and small business owner.
