Shopping local on Small Business Saturday

LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) - Small Business Saturday aims to encourage shoppers to support their local businesses.

Susie Book, owner of Expressions on Ryan Street, explains that it’s more than just shopping local, it’s also about supporting your city.

“The small businesses are the backbone of Lake Charles and people need to realize that," Book said. "We are the businesses that donate to your soccer team and your church. We give back to the community.”

It’s even more than that though, for Book.

“A lot of our customers are like family to us," Book said. "We usually offer you something to drink, take care of you the best that we can, and wrap it up beautifully so that a gift is ready to give to whoever you came in for.”

It’s one of the reasons why Ginger Karcher has been shopping at Expressions for the past 20 years.

“It helps the community and it just energizes Lake Charles and it makes Lake Charles that much more special," Karcher said. "Anybody can buy anything at the mall but when you have something that’s homegrown, so to speak, it means that much more to the consumer.”

Diamond Durrell’s, on Prien Lake Road, is another locally owned business. Owner Durrell Hudson says he goes above and beyond to keep the customer happy.

“It’s not like a mall store that you have certain hours," Hudson said. "We have jewelers coming in, we’re getting in early, we’re staying late. We want to, you know, take care of our customers.”

Part of taking care of their customers, is even making sure they get home safely.

“We have security for people coming in," Hudson said. "We have security that will walk them to their cars, you know, everything, so that they don’t have to worry about getting robbed.”

Both Diamond Durrell’s and Expressions can also provide customizations to your gift and even the best deal.

Expressions is located at 3204 Ryan St.

Diamond Durrell’s is located at 224 W. Prien Lake Road.

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