This Small Business Saturday, events were held across the Tri-State Area to help support local stores that have struggled this year due to high costs brought on by tariffs.
Small business crawls were held from Newark, New Jersey, to Queens and Brooklyn, encouraging shoppers to give back to those who keep their communities thriving.
Bed-Stuy Gateway BID incentivizes shopping local with prizes
Nearly two dozen businesses on Fulton Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant are partaking in something new this year with the Bed-Stuy Gateway Business Improvement District (BID).
Twenty-two shops are handing out special cards to customers, and shoppers who collect all 22 cards can enter to win a prize from the Bed-Stuy Gateway BID over the next three Saturdays.
CBS News New York 
Participating stores are displaying a page or image from the book “Lionel the Lying Lion” in their front windows. The book, written and illustrated by Bed-Stuy native Amir Diap, teaches children not to lie.
“Lionel is based out of Bed-Stuy and based out of here,” Diap said. “It’s the core of my message, and it’s the core of everything that I’ve done.”
“This is my lifeline, seeing happy faces that come in the store”
Bed-Stuy Gateway BID Executive Director Dale Charles dressed as Mrs. Claus and led a tour to participating businesses Saturday.
“We want the people that has the taxpayers’ money, they’re paying rent for brick-and-mortar, we want to work with them and make sure that they have a way to keep their stores open,” she said.
One stop along the tour was Solano Optical Boutique, owned by Kim Moreno.
“A lot of stuff is going up. It is a little harder for small businesses,” Moreno said. “People … that don’t know the store is here, they get to come in to see what we have, you know?”
The tour also included vacant storefronts in the area in hopes of finding a new business owner to move in.
“Already today, one of the vacancies has been asked, ‘What’s the rent?’ Because they want to rent it by January,” Charles said.
David Ramnauth owns Big Brothers Hardware, which has been on Fulton Street for 30 years, and says New York City would be nothing without its small businesses.
“This is my lifeline, seeing happy faces that come in the store,” Ramnauth said. “I’ve been here for 40 years. I don’t plan to go anywhere.”