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Shop Owners Hope For Boost On 'Small Biz Saturday'

PAOLI, Pa. (CBS) - Mom and Pop shops in the Philadelphia area are usually overshadowed by the national chains and big box stores on Black Friday, but this year there's something to help them prop up their holiday sales this weekend.

It's called Small Business Saturday and falls between the mayhem of Black Friday and the heavy Internet shopping on Cyber Monday. It's the brainchild of a Midwest retail consultant and has the backing of American Express.

Deborah Van Cleve (left in photo above) of Van Cleve Collection, a woman's boutique in Chester County, embraces the movement designed to get shoppers to spend their dollars in small, independently owned stores:

"In going over the books for the last 25 years, it was a good chuckle to see that Black Friday is pretty black at Van Cleve, and so we'd like to go for this wonderful idea of small business Saturdays."

She says there will be deals in her store this weekend and you don't have to stand in line at four in the morning. Advocates are using social networking to plug the day and American Express is offering incentives for businesses and shoppers.

Reported by Brad Segall, KYW Newsradio

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