Kansas’ Main Streets Still Need Help

The state’s leading small-business association is encouraging everyone in Kansas to reserve some of their holiday shopping time and money for Small Business Saturday.

According to the Kansas chapter of he National Federation of Independent Business, Small Business Saturday is an important reminder of how our mom-and-pop shops give back to our communities here in Kansas: not only do they create jobs and hire locally, but they are your next door neighbors, the place you go to celebrate family birthdays, and the businesses that sponsor youth little league teams.

“To say that the past 18 months have been challenging for our small business owners would be an understatement. They have faced unprecedented challenges, from mandated shutdowns and layoffs to open job positions and supply chain issues,” said Dan Murray, NFIB State Director in Kansas.

Murray said “as the pandemic continues to throw curve balls at our small business owners, let’s throw them some support this Small Business Saturday. The sooner our mom-and-pop shops get back on their feet, the sooner the economy here in Kansas can get back to business.”

Some of the recent struggles small-business owners are facing thanks to the health and economic challenges brought on my the COVID-19 pandemic include:

  • In its latest Jobs Report, released this month, NFIB recorded 49% of its membership reporting job openings they could not fill despite the record high in pay they were offering.
  • Also this month, NFIB released the latest findings of its special COVID-19 polls showing 62% of small-business owners saying supply-chain disruptions are worse now than three months ago and 90% expecting the problem to continue for the next five months or longer.
  • Equally troubling, NFIB’s Small Business Economic Trends report found the percentage of small-business owners expecting better business conditions falling four points to a net negative 37%. This indicator has declined 17 points over the past three months to its lowest level since November 2012.
  • As U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said at a recent Fed Listens session. “I’ve never seen these kinds of supply-chain issues, never seen an economy that combines drastic labor shortages with lots of unemployed people.”

Quick Facts

  • Established during the recession by American Express in 2010 and officially co-sponsored by the U.S. Small Business Administration since 2011, fully 70% of consumers are now aware of Small Business Saturday, according to a 2019 Small Business Saturday Consumer Insights Survey by AMEX and NFIB.
  • Last week, the research firm Morning Consult found, “Almost 4 in 10 U.S. consumers say they will do the majority of their holiday shopping online: Another 36% plan to evenly split their holiday shopping between stores and online. Only 1 in 4 consumers will do the majority of their holiday shopping in stores.
  • “About 50% of those who have started shopping have faced supply chain issues. These include items being out of stock online (48%), in store (48%) or back-ordered or delayed (46%).”