Small Business Saturday is November 28. A three-week plan for your stores

When is Small Business Saturday 2026?

Small Business Saturday 2026 is Saturday, November 28. American Express founded the day in 2010 and holds it every year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving ¹. Thanksgiving is Thursday, November 26 this year ², and Amex’s own sample posts for the season already say November 28 ³.

One oddity: on October 6, 2026, Amex’s main Shop Small page still gave last year’s date, November 29, 2025 ⁴. Go by the rule, the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

Small Business Saturday® and Shop Small® are registered trademarks of American Express ⁵, and the day is Amex’s program. Ocally has no connection to American Express. What follows is our reading of Amex’s public pages on October 6, 2026.

Who can participate: the rules for chains and franchises

Any store can plan a good Saturday. Amex’s rules decide something narrower: whether your business can appear on its Shop Small map, the free listing Amex shows to shoppers and Card Members.

Amex’s Shop Small Resource Hub sends you to the map FAQ to check eligibility ⁶. That FAQ says a business on the map must accept American Express Cards, be in the U.S. or a listed U.S. territory, and stay out of excluded industries such as gas stations, nonprofits and travel agencies ¹. Then come the size limits, and here’s the catch: Amex’s Shop Small page lists different numbers, under the heading “2025 Shop Small eligibility criteria” ⁴.

Charge volume is what customers spend on Amex cards at your business. On corporate-owned stores, the map FAQ says that past 25, “the entire brand is excluded” ¹. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s sign-up guide from November 2025 used the $5 million and 250-store numbers ⁷, so the Shop Small page looks like last year’s rules. What that means for you:

• One store, or a chain of 25 or fewer that accepts Amex. You fit both versions if your Amex sales are under $5 million a year.
• A franchisee. Your brand’s size counts as well as your own. A brand of 100 stores or fewer fits the map FAQ, unless it has more than 25 corporate-owned stores. A brand of 101 to 250 stores sits in the gap between the two pages, so ask Amex before you print anything with the Shop Small name.
• A chain with more than 25 locations. You can’t be on the map. You can still plan a strong Saturday, team up with the small shops around each store and write your signs in your own words.

The rules are Amex’s to change. Check the map FAQ the week you plan, and if your case is close, use the Shop Small phone line or email listed there ¹.

Your three-week plan, starting November 9

Week one: from Monday, November 9

• Get on the Shop Small map. The FAQ’s steps: log in to your American Express merchant account (or create one), open the “Shop Small® Map Listing” link, select your location, turn on “Show on Shop Small® Map,” check your details and save ¹. Changes can take 2 to 3 business days ¹, so finish by Friday the 13th.
• Order the free Shop Small signs and download the social posts and posters from the Resource Hub ⁶. You pay only to print what you download ¹.
• Choose a neighbor and send the invite (template below).
• Book a local maker for a table by the door, and pick your events.
• Add staff for your busiest hours on the 28th.

Week two: from Monday, November 16

• Pick one offer per store (next section).
• Set your Thanksgiving week hours everywhere (see the hours section below).
• Take photos of the maker’s pieces, the window and your team, sized for each channel (images).
• Publish your first post.

We're taking part in Small Business Saturday® on November 28, and we'd love to see you.

What's on at [store name] on [street]:
10 to 11 am: kids' craft hour at the back table
11 am to 3 pm: [maker name] is here with [what they make]
All day: [neighbor name] next door has [their thing], so make a morning of it

Open [hours] on Saturday. Closed Thursday for Thanksgiving.
#SmallBusinessSaturday #ShopSmall

Week three: from Monday, November 23

• Monday: confirm the neighbor, the maker and the staff schedule.
• Tuesday: post with your neighbor and tag each other. Check every listing’s hours.
• Wednesday: signs in the window and at the register, and a Thanksgiving sign on the door.
• Friday night: set up the maker table, the craft table and the gift wrap station. Check your listings once more.

If you run more than one store

Give each store manager this checklist, and let each store pick its own neighbor, maker and offer. A store by the college and a store in the suburbs have different neighbors and different Saturdays.

The district manager owns two jobs: every listing’s hours, checked on the Tuesday and Friday of Thanksgiving week, and one shared sheet where each store logs what it did and how the day went. This is the kind of list Kai, Ocally’s AI growth agent, works through for each store, with nothing going out before you say yes.

Offers that keep your margin

Deloitte’s holiday forecast notes shoppers “switching among brands and retailers and using promotions to manage spending” ⁸. So an offer helps. It doesn’t have to be a discount, and for a small store it usually shouldn’t be.

The math: an item that sells for $100 and costs you $50 earns $50. At 20% off it earns $30, so five sales only match what three used to make. Offers that cost less:

• Something extra at full price. Free gift wrap, a tote with purchases over $50, a sample in every bag.
• A bounce-back card. $10 off $50 between December 5 and 20. It costs nothing on Saturday and brings people back.
• A bundle. Three things that go together, in one basket, with a card that says what’s inside.
• An early hour for your list. Open at 8 for your email or loyalty members.

One rule from Amex: its toolkit tells businesses not to pair Small Business Saturday “with discounts, contests, sweepstakes, or offers” ⁵. So keep them apart. Your Small Business Saturday post says you’re taking part and what’s happening. Your offer goes on its own sign or post, named by the date: “Saturday, Nov 28: free gift wrap.” Stores in different neighborhoods can run different offers; check each one’s margin before you approve it.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 28
Open [hours]

10 to 11 am: kids' craft hour at the back table
11 am to 3 pm: meet [maker name], who makes [what they make]
All day: free gift wrap at the counter

Getting coffee? [Neighbor name] is two doors down.
We're closed Thursday for Thanksgiving.

This sign leaves the Small Business Saturday name off on purpose, because it lists an offer.

Team up with a neighbor

The best partner sells something different to the same people. The café next to the bookstore. The bakery by the florist.

Keep the deal small and easy to say yes to:

• Keep a stack of each other’s cards at the register.
• Post about each other that week, and tag each other.
• Tell customers what’s on next door. “Getting coffee? Rosa’s opens at 7.”
• If a few shops on the block are in, print one walking map of all of you.

Also ask your chamber of commerce or Main Street group if it’s an Amex Neighborhood Champion this year. Champions are local business groups and chambers that spread the word, and some have organized Small Business Saturday events in their towns ⁴. Joining their event is easier than building your own (local partnerships).

Hi [name], I'm [your name] from [store name], two doors down.

Small Business Saturday is November 28. I'd like to send our customers your way that day, and hope you'll do the same for us. A simple version:
- We keep a stack of your cards at our register, you keep ours.
- We each post about the other that week and tag each other.
- Our staff mention what you have on, and yours mention us.

If a few more shops on the block want in, we could print one walking map of all of us.

Could we talk for ten minutes this week? I'm at [phone], or at the store most mornings.
[your name]

Get your hours and listings right

Picture a family driving over on Thanksgiving because Google says you’re open. Set special hours for the whole week on your Google Business Profile, your store’s listing on Google Search and Maps. Google’s help page puts them under Edit profile, then Hours, then Special hours, and suggests confirming holiday hours even when they don’t change ⁹. If you manage stores with Google’s bulk upload spreadsheet, it has a “Special hours” column ⁹.

Then copy the same hours to Apple Maps, Yelp, Bing, your website’s store page and your Shop Small map listing. Write the week out once:

• Thursday, Nov 26: closed, or your Thanksgiving hours
• Friday, Nov 27: your Black Friday hours
• Saturday, Nov 28: your Small Business Saturday hours

Check them again in Thanksgiving week, at every store (listings).

On the day: the store manager’s plan

For a store that opens at 9:

• 8:00. Walk the front. Window sign up, maker table set, the neighbor’s cards at the register, gift wrap stocked. Search your store on your phone and check that Google shows today’s hours.
• 9:00. Doors open. One person near the door says hello and mentions what’s on.
• 10:00. Kids’ craft hour. Parents shop while kids make a card.
• Your busiest hours. Everyone on the floor, breaks staggered, one person on gift wrap.
• Early afternoon. Post a photo or short video from the floor (social), and ask before you film a customer.
• Mid afternoon. Restock what’s selling. Check in with your neighbor.
• Close. Thank the team. Write down sales, the number of transactions, new email sign-ups, what ran out, and how many people the neighbor sent. A tally by the register is enough: “Did Rosa’s send you?”

The Monday after: thank, ask, measure

• Post a thank-you with a photo from the day, and thank your neighbor by name.
• Ask for reviews the way you always do: every customer, no rewards. Google’s policy bans offering incentives for reviews and asking only happy customers ¹⁰.
• Compare the day with last year’s Small Business Saturday, November 29, 2025 ⁴, and with an ordinary Saturday this month. Look at transactions as well as the total.
• Keep the notes. Next year’s plan starts with them.

15 Small Business Saturday ideas that fit a neighborhood store

1. Swap cards with the shop next door. The cheapest partnership there is.
2. A local maker table. A potter, a candle maker or a baker by the door. Agree in writing who rings up the sales.
3. Kids’ craft hour. Cards or ornaments from 10 to 11, while parents shop.
4. Free gift wrap. One table, one person, good paper.
5. Coffee or cider from the café next door. They bring it, you send customers back.
6. A bounce-back card for December. Full price today, a reason to return.
7. A staff picks shelf. A handwritten card on each item saying why.
8. Gifts by price. Tables or tags for under $15, under $30 and under $50.
9. A “made nearby” shelf. Each item with a card naming the maker and the town.
10. An early hour for your list. Open at 8 for email or loyalty members.
11. A 20-minute how-to. Wrap a gift, repot a plant, sharpen a knife. Run it twice.
12. A photo spot. A corner with lights and your store’s name, so people post it.
13. Gift cards at the counter. In envelopes, ready to hand over.
14. A collection bin. Coats, canned food or toys for a local group. Ask the group what it needs first.
15. A walking map of the block. Made with your neighbors and handed out at every shop.

Pick three or four, and do them well.