With Small Business Saturday upon us, this is your annual reminder that skipping the Black Friday chaos at big-box stores not only saves you stress, but serves your community. According to a 2018 American Express study, approximately two-thirds (67 cents) of every dollar spent locally stays local, thanks to employee spending, local business purchases, and more.

With that in mind, the Downtown Austin Alliance recently shared findings from its second biannual inventory of downtown Austin storefront retail businesses to sere both Austin businesses and Austin shoppers in this busy season.

According to a release, the report helps the Downtown Alliance better understand the impact of these businesses on the overall health and vibrancy of downtown Austin. This year, the report found that Downtown Austin has over 680 storefront businesses in the sectors of drinks and entertainment, food, retail goods, and retail services.

Other key retail report findings include both good news and bad news. In bad news:

• The total number of retail goods and services businesses dropped by 18 percent since February 2020. Downtown has 45 fewer retail businesses available for local shopping.
• 125 businesses have permanently closed downtown since February 2020.

• More than 85 percent of downtown Austin's storefront businesses are operating, representing the largest percentage since the start of the pandemic.
• 71 new businesses have opened downtown since February 2020.
• Overall pedestrian activity in downtown continues to increase where visitor activity is at 95 percent of pre-pandemic levels and employee activity is at 62 percent.

To further support Austin businesses during the busy holiday season, the Downtown Alliance launches its Holiday Passport this weekend on Small Business Saturday, November 26. According to the release, the Holiday Passport allows shoppers to shop from any participating retailer from November 26, 2022, to January 7, 2023, and scan a QR code at the time of purchase to earn entries for prize giveaways. The passport provides the perfect way to check off that holiday shopping list while still supporting small businesses.

Curious Austinites (and graph nerds) can download the full report here, as well as compare it to reports from previous years.