An update of a popular blog post from August 28, 2023

This year Pink Friday will fall on November 20 – as always, one week before Black Friday. This promotion of small business is sponsored by The Boutique Hub, which invites you to “join thousands of small business retailers across the country for a day dedicated to driving traffic, increasing holiday sales, and reminding your community why shopping local matters.”

When I wrote about The Boutique Hub three years ago there were already over 7,500 active members and 55,000 stores in the network. The organization, which was founded in 2013, was originally targeted at fashion boutiques – but offers tools and programs that could be of use to many different types of independent retailers.

Founder Ashley Alderson describes herself as “a wife, mother, motivational speaker, big thinker, mold breaker, entrepreneur, advocate, optimist, coach, cook, dragon slayer and jewelry lover.” She moved to the La Crosse, Wisconsin area from rural North Dakota, where she was Miss Rodeo America and worked as the director of economic development for the region. It was here that she got the idea to create her own company to “help boutique owners and the boutique ecosystem of brands, designers, and influencers find success in collaboration, education and marketing.”

What does The Boutique Hub do? In part it is a social network (the word sisterhood comes to mind) of shop owners and their employees – mostly women – who come together for inspiration and support.  It’s also a platform to connect stores to their vendors through Hubventory, a B2B wholesale site for member stores, and a source of education, coaching and training for retailers.

In 2020 The Boutique Hub launched Pink Friday with the goal of kicking off the shop local holiday season early.  The hashtag #SupportSmallFirst is encouraged as a way of helping locally owned businesses unite and make their efforts stand out.  Participating retailers receive a free success toolkit, marketing templates, and inclusion on the interactive store locator map.

This year The Boutique Hub is partnering with Heart on Main Street. For every first-time Pink Friday participant, they will donate $1 to this nonprofit. Heart on Main Street was founded in 2022 in order to provide independent retailers with grants, educational resources, and strategic connections. Since then, the organization has taken an active role in providing aid to independent retailers affected by natural disasters. It is this important work that The Boutique Hub will be supporting through their Pink Friday sign-up promotion.

Happy Retailing,

Carol “Orange” Schroeder