Small businesses find success on 'Small Business Saturday'

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- At Atys Design on Union Street, small business Saturday started out strong but didn't really end that way.

Atys and just about every other small business are offering deep discounts and more.

"We serve Nespresso, we gift wrap, we are your therapist for 15 minutes, we do it all," said owner Paul Kerr.

It's the price to compete against the big box stores and Black Friday sales.

But with online being the preferred shopping mode small business owners are re-strategizing.

"You figure out the next thing, you figure out how to optimize the search engines to find your website, you are constantly looking at youtube videos, talking to other retailers to figure out what they're doing," said the owner of Compass Rose Design in San Anselmo.

"It's just easy. Now if we go to the mall it's just to hang out not for shopping, " said Geetanjali Jain is a self-proclaimed millennial.

At this Shop Small Holiday Event hosted by Etsy, many still preferred the old-fashioned form of shopping, where you actually tried on and touched products before buying.

All 200 vendors at the event were local and independently owned.

Organizers say there is more foot traffic this year than during last year's event.