Shoppers near and far embrace New Kensington's Shop Small Crawl

Kim Denne stood at a table in her gift shop on Saturday, winding white, green and red string around a wooden plaque in the shape of Santa Claus.

As each customer entered, Denne greeted them, telling them that all of the products in the store — from the pottery pieces her daughter makes to the wooden signs her husband makes — come from her family.

“Everything is made local and sold local,” Denne said.

It was a theme that fit perfectly with Saturday’s fourth annual Shop Small Crawl in New Kensington.

Millions of shoppers across the country participate in Small Business Saturday each year. The event was introduced by American Express in 2010 as a way to promote small businesses during the holiday shopping season.

There are more than 34 million independent business in the United States, according to the Small Business Administration.

According to American Express 2023 Saturday Consumer Insights Survey, customers spent $17 billion on the event last year.

On Saturday, in Leechburg, Small Business Saturday events included a photo scavenger hunt.

The New Kensington event, sponsored by Olde Towne Overhaul, featured 30 downtown businesses.

Participating patrons could stop and pick up a map of the local shops participating, and at each location, have their maps stamped to be eligible for raffle prizes.

Tom Zecchini and Sarah Davis, of Plum, were browsing Yinzspired on Saturday afternoon to support the Shop Small Crawl.

Davis had already purchased SpongeBob socks and an Albus Dumbledore ornament from Ethical Hope, a shop nearby.

“I’d rather spend my money on people I can see from the community than some giant corporation,” Zecchini said.

Denne praised the Shop Small Crawl.

“We always hear ‘we didn’t know this was here,’” she said. “Every event we’ve done, it always brings people in and coming back.”

Yinzspired was also celebrating its one-year anniversary on Saturday.

Denne was selling her pieces — including string art wall hangings and chunky yarn creations — out of a trailer at last year’s Shop Small Saturday.

That day, she met someone from Olde Towne Overhaul and learned about their rental program.

“We opened a week after we saw the building,” Denne said.

She’d been selling her custom pieces online and at events for six-and-a-half years.

“I had a bunch of inventory already,” she said.

Among the pieces for sale on Saturday was a portrait of Martin Luther King Jr. Designed on a computer and then hand-strung, Denne said the pattern requires 2,400 steps and a single of black string the length of 12 football fields.

Pam and Todd Carlson, of New Kensington’s Mount Vernon neighborhood, had just left Sweet Tillie’s on Saturday morning to begin their Shop Small Crawl shopping excursion.

Last year, they scored wooden crayons for their grandchildren at Ethical Hope on Fifth Avenue and were hoping to secure an equally unique gift for this year.

“Almost always, we spend more than we plan,” Todd said.

While they want to support local business, the couple said they also enjoy seeing how the community continues to evolve.

Michelle Logreco and Lisa Volberg agreed.

“This is going to be a really cool town in a couple years,” Logreco said.

The two women love going to Voodoo Brewing and said supporting small business is important.

They had already gotten baklava from Sweet Tillie’s, though Logreco was disappointed that an apron she hoped to buy there was purchased by the customer before her.

They hoped to find more gifts at Ethical Hope and Yinzspired.

They also had already visited Evanly Bakes, which was marking its very first day of business at its new store front in New Kensington.

Specializing in gourmet brownies, blondies and cake jars, the shop, owned by Evan Morgan-Newpher, also caters to dietary restrictions and has vegan and gluten-free options.

“This is a place of indulgence, and everyone should get to indulge,” Morgan-Newpher said. “It doesn’t matter your socio-economic status or dietary restrictions, everyone should get to enjoy dessert.”

Evanly Bakes will have its grand opening party from 3 to 7 p.m. on Sunday at Voodoo Brewing. The party will include bakery tours, bake sales and discounts.

Nearby at Preserving Vinyl, employee Mike Gamble said they had seen more than 100 customers on Black Friday and were on their way to similar numbers Saturday.

A.J. Rassau opened the original Preserving the Record Shop Experience on Fifth Avenue in 2019 just a couple of storefronts down. But when they came into an additional quarter-million albums when they bought a record store in Allentown, they needed more space.

And the folks from Olde Towne Overhaul came through.

Gamble said that the stores have the second or third largest inventory of vinyl in Western Pennsylvania.

“We have a lot of titles people are looking for,” he said. “Vinyls — people love to browse. There’s something about flipping through the records.”

Olivia Ernest, of Richmond, Va., and her brother, Van Ernest, of Washington, D.C., were back in their hometown for Thanksgiving, and decided to participate in the Shop Small Crawl.

Olivia said she was looking to buy metal albums.

“I browse in places I know I’m going to find stuff,” she said.

Excitedly, she pulled out a sealed album called “Drift,” by metalcore band, Erra.

She declared it one of the best albums of all time. But Olivia didn’t buy it — she already had an original signed copy at home.

“It’s one of my most prized possessions,” she said.

Rassau bounced back and forth between his two stores on Saturday.

“It’s a little unorthodox to have two record shops on the same block,” he said.

But, with the help of his landlord, Olde Towne Overhaul, Rassau said, it made logistical sense.

He praised the organization for going above and beyond in helping the New Ken business district.

“They drive business down here,” Rassau said. “To have them bolster, get people out for this event who aren’t normally here — it’s nice to be able to foster the growth.”

He called the tour map and stamp idea brilliant.

“It’s definitely a good way to get eyes on it,” Rassau said.