Forget long lines at Best Buy and Target on Black Friday and take your holiday shopping list to local businesses instead. From freebies to deep discounts, these Small Business Saturday offers will make you happy you blew off the shopping-mall crowds.
Adams Morgan
Songbyrd, the hybrid cafe-record shop, is offering shoppers free coffees and discounts on vinyl, plus an appearance by electronic music duo Odesza at 1 PM. Then head to The Brass Knob for 20 percent off all items and free snacks. Fleet Feet Sports will be handing out free gifts with every purchase, and discounts on select shoes, apparel, and electronics. Hudson & Crane will have scratch-off cards offering discounts up to 40 percent. Score a canvas bag from Idle Time Books when you spend $25 that will put those NPR and New Yorker totes to shame.
Alexandria
Alexandria doesn’t wait for Saturday, instead starting with an “alternative Black Friday” the day after Thanksgiving. The Hive will offer up to 30 percent its merchandise; Bellacara has a similar deal with up to 20 percent off. La Cuisine will cut 25 percent off kitchen items, while discounts on upscale consignment items at Current Boutique will range between 20 and 50 percent.
Georgetown
Sip free champagne while you shop sales of 10 to 50 percent at LILI The First. Have a book worm on your shopping list? When you buy 5 books at Lantern Bookshop, the two least expensive are free. Take your kids to Little Birdies Boutique where they can fill out Christmas lists, eat snacks, and get a balloon while the adults shop. Reddz Trading is offering 20 percent off almost all merchandise, while Sports Zone Elite taking 50 percent off its apparel prices. If all this shopping makes you hungry, you can grab free rainbow-colored doughnut bites at District Doughnut or score a free side dish when you buy three tacos at Chaia and Farm-to-Taco.
Northeast DC
DC Brau Brewing Company hosts a ‘Made in DC’ holiday market from 1 to 6 PM, featuring crafts food products from 46 local vendors, and five food trucks including Honey’s Empanadas and Dangerously Delicious Pies. While you browse, listen to live music by local alt-country band Reed Appleseed.
Abbey joined Washingtonian in September 2017. A Miami University (Ohio, not Florida) alum, she called the Midwest home before moving to Vermont to report for the Burlington Free Press and to be closer to her one true love: Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. Her work has also appeared in Cincinnati Magazine and USA Today. Abbey lives in Falls Church.
