ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
The Friday after Thanksgiving, commonly known as Black Friday, is traditionally the start of the Christmas shopping season.
As part of a nationwide annual event championing small and local businesses, this Friday, the Friday before Thanksgiving, the Seward County Development Corporation is bringing Pink Friday to Liberal.
SCDC Entrepreneurship Director Raquel Arellano said Pink Friday, launched in 2020, is strategically scheduled on the Friday before Black Friday to motivate consumers to explore and support small retailers at the outset of the holiday shopping season.
“This initiative underscores the importance of bolstering local economies, emphasizing the critical role community-focused shopping plays in enhancing local vibrancy and diversity,” she said. “Pink Friday invites all small business retailers to participate at no cost, making it an accessible and valuable opportunity for businesses aiming to increase visibility and sales during one of the busiest shopping periods of the year.”
As part of the local Pink Friday celebration, shoppers are invited to visit pop-up shops at Liberal’s Landmark Center. Arellano, though, said other businesses will be involved as well.
“We opened it up not just to a pop-up shop,” she said. “We wanted to be able to do both. Normally, it’s for a boutique crawl. This is our first year, and we thought let’s try it this way.”
As part of Pink Friday, shoppers can step into a world of unique treasures and local flair at the exclusive pop-up shop and discover one-of-a-kind finds from handcrafted jewelry to baked items.
In this way, everyone can experience the best of local craftsmanship all in one vibrant spot, and Pink Friday gets people in the holiday spirit with festive treats, live music and great company.
“It’s more than shopping,” Arellano said. “It’s a celebration of community and local entrepreneurship.”
The idea for Liberal’s Pink Friday came from Network Kansas, who informed SCDC leaders of similar events being done in other cities and towns, and Arellano said the state leaders likewise suggested it might be something of interest for a local event.
“We got to looking into this and decided this would be awesome to drive local economic development and just for the holiday season up the sales of people locally first,” she said. “What we did was we began advertising it on our Facebook page, opened up the space to do a pop-up shop here in the Landmark Center. We’ll have festivities kick off here that morning at 9.”
In the midst of preparing for Pink Friday, Arellano and others decided to bring in city brick and mortar businesses to the event.
“The whole premise is for us to shop local first, and we opened it up citywide to anybody who heard about it,” she said. “We put something on our Web site so people could go and look to see what it was all about.”
With the idea of Pink Friday not originating locally, Arellano said it was decided initially to send people to a boutique hub, not for the intention of paying for products, but rather seeing where the event start, what it is about and seeing free promotional materials offered.
“They want to have the numbers to say people nationwide are joining this movement,” she said. “That was the purpose of including the boutique hub in part of the marketing, but we decided to take it all local. Right now, I have eight brick and mortar or physical locations that are going to be participating, and we have 11 pop-up shops in the Landmark Center.”
Window clings have been placed at some local businesses reading “Pink Friday Shop Local First,” and Arellano said people will see these and know businesses are participating in the promotion to shop local first.
“The whole thing is we’re saying pink is the new black because you shop local before you go shop the big box stores,” she said.
Arellano said businesses have been asked to decorate in some form of pink so people can see they are participating.
“This is a completely free event,” she said. “This is something nobody had to pay anything to participate in. We ask simply that they decorate, they have either some goodies or some kind of give back to our community for stopping in and checking out their place, whether they buy something or not. It’s driving exposure and hopefully driving sales for these local businesses.”
Arellano said Pink Friday sets the tone for the Christmas shopping season.
“I always say the truth of the matter is when you buy local, when you buy from a small business, your city sees a difference,” she said. “It’s a place where your kids are growing up. It’s a place where you’re doing business, where you’re choosing to live, and you’re driving financial and economical growth within this place. That’s the whole purpose of it. I think there’s going to be pink everywhere, and I think there’s going to be a great opportunity for people to walk into a store and see what they have to offer and maybe find some unique items first.”
Arellano said ideally, a good shopping experience should start with visiting what is in a person’s own hometown.
“I think we’re people who always look out,” she said. “What’s Garden City doing? What’s Dodge City doing? What’s Amarillo doing? We’re always outwardly focused, and I think it gives us a good opportunity to turn back in and look to see what are we doing in Liberal? What do we have to offer, and what can we enjoy in our own backyard? That’s a good thing for families because you also spend some time together getting to know the people who own these local shops and are doing business here in your town.”
Arellano said Pink Friday is likewise a good time to score good deals on Christmas presents. The event is just one of the many chances for holiday shoppers, including the Liberal Chamber of Commerce’s recent Holiday Open House and the Meade County Craft Fair this past weekend in Meade. Arellano said she does not see Pink Friday as competition to these events, but rather an additional opportunity for shoppers.
“I firmly believe community over competition, and I think when learn to network and work together, it’s all the better for us all the way around,” she said. “I drink coffee all the time. Sometimes, I buy from Cozy Corner, sometimes from Scooter’s, sometimes from Starbucks. As others come up, I will do the same. Why? Because I’m going to drink coffee anyway. Why not spread the wealth? Maybe I like it from one place or another, but the truth of the matter is when you go and spend your dollars in these different places in your own backyard, you’re flourishing your own garden.”
Arellano said events like Pink Friday make the holiday season even funner than it already is.
“You get to go out and see your neighbors and your friends, and you’re out about the town having a good time spreading Christmas cheer in the community,” she said. “It’s not a competition, rather just a building on each other.”
Friday’s festivities kick off at 9 a.m. at the Landmark Center.
“It’ll be 9 to 5 or whenever the pop-ups decide to close,” Arellano said. “Our doors usually close by 5:30, so I’m saying we stop at 5, and people can have an opportunity to clear out their stuff for the pop-up shop.”
Arellano said she wanted to give the pop-up shops an opportunity to showcase what they have in a fun setting with vibe of kicking off the holiday season.
“I know their calendars fill up really quick, and some are going all about,” she said. “How about in our own town and see what we’ve got to share with others?”
For more information, visit www.swks.org or the Seward County Development Corporation Facebook page.
“Our Facebook page has all the information of everybody participating online, and we have done some videos and some mini-commercials for the businesses just as free advertising for them,” Arellano said “They’re spending a lot of their marketing dollars on this holiday season, so we also wanted to help give them a leg up to be able to kick off the season well.”
Arellano is very excited for Friday’s event.
“Support local first, enjoy exclusive deals, and soak up the festive atmosphere,” she said. “Spread the word, and bring your friends. Let’s make this Pink Friday unforgettable.”
