Small Business Saturday Big in Hillsborough

On Saturday, a shopper might be able to bang the drum slowly, sample some sushi, get a physical workout, purchase just that ring or try on an ostrich feather hat at a local business.

More than 100 local businesses have signed up to participate in Small Business Saturday, a local shopping promotion supported by American Express. Local music stores, florists, restaurants, hardware stores, clothing boutiques, fitness centers, even accountants, landscapers and pediatricians are on the list.

The goal is to remind shoppers that there a wealth of good, attractive local businesses they could patronize.

Hillsborough has 1,800 small businesses, said Gene Strupinsky, business advocate for Hillsborough Township.

“Many are the mom-and-pop variety,” he said.

An issue, he said, is that the township’s shopping district is spread out along Route 206, a state highway, without a true center. While that is a condition the township hopes to correct as it moves forward on its town center concept as the Route 206 bypass is built, at present there is no opportunity to promote a single Hillsborough shopping district.

“We can’t close Route 206” to promote a local event, Strupinsky said.

Such efforts as the Small Business Saturday provide an opportunity to highlight local merchants as a community, he said.

Maria Scerbo, owner of Haute, a woman’s fashion boutique in Hillsborough Promenade, jumped at the chance to join Small Business Saturday.

When a friend asked her about the promotion, she quickly downloaded the promotional materials, she said.

The local shops provide more personal service, and a targeted selection of goods that is developed by knowing their customers, she said.

We asked ourselves, “What are you wearing? What will you be wearing next?” she said.

Kevin Sweeney, owner of Bentley’s Fine Jewelers, said his store’s ability to repair jewelry at the store is the type of service that a local shop provides that a large chain might not, even something as simple as sizing a ring.

He said some of that repair business comes from customers who purchased jewelry at the nearby national chain, which does not handle repairs locally."

Sweeney said personal service and a select collection of jewelry allows him to compete in the marketplace.

But the national chains, through their extensive advertising, offer the locally owned stores opportunities as well, he said. Their promotions of holiday sales and special events like Black Friday fill the parking lots.

The shoppers in the those lots are also local shoppers, and take the time to visit shops like his, Sweeney said.

The following is a list of some of the Hillsborough businesses listed as participating by American Express on their Shop Small map: