Dreary weekend weather may have driven away some shoppers in Bloomington for this year's Small Business Saturday.
The nationwide event hosted the Saturday after Thanksgiving aims to get shoppers to patronize their local businesses following Black Friday, which drives shoppers to big box stores.
American Express created and first started promoting Small Business Saturday in 2010.
Clayton Cunningham, a camping gear buyer for J.L. Waters and Company in Bloomington says this year's turnout was smaller than last year's.
"The weather was not very cooperative. It was very rainy and not conducive to spend a lot of time outdoors, but there's still definitely a drive in Bloomington to shop local," he says.
Despite a smaller number of shoppers, Cunningham says local businesses in Bloomington are working to connect, support each other and drive more commerce to their shops.