Est. 2006

ShopSmallBusiness.com is a directory of independent small businesses run by real people, that you can buy from directly. No marketplace, no checkout, no cut of anyone's sales. Just a place to find the owner and buy from them.

Why it exists

In 2006 I was doing marketing in Atlanta for two small retail clients: a pet supply store and a men's gift shop. Neither had a marketing budget. The idea was simple: if small businesses pooled their marketing, each one could afford what none of them could alone. I registered this domain that April, and in a planning document from February 2008 I described it as "a marketing initiative combined with a technology initiative to get people to shop smaller shops and give them a bit of an edge over all the big guys."

Eighteen years later the big guys are bigger. The pet store is still a client, and still open. The men's shop is gone. That is roughly the story of independent retail since then, and it is why this site is back.

What's changed since 2006

The squeeze is no longer the mall down the road. It is the warehouse with free two-day shipping. Independent makers and shops join the big marketplaces because it is easier than fighting them, then watch the fees climb year after year until the platform's own house brand appears next to theirs. A typical third-party seller now gives up more than half of every sale in fees, fulfillment and advertising. The owner who made the thing keeps less than the company that shipped the box.

We cannot match free next-day shipping. We do not try. What a small business has that a warehouse never will is a person: someone whose name is on the door, who answers the email, who chose every item on the shelf or made it with their hands. This site puts that person in front of you and gives you a button that goes to their own store.

What we do

List independent businesses, free. Makers who make what they sell, and shops run by the owner behind the counter. Chains and franchises are not eligible.
Tell the owner's story. Every listing has the owner's name, their words, and where possible a short video.
Send you to their front door. Every listing has a Buy Direct button that goes to the business's own website. We take nothing from the sale.
Send shoppers their way. A weekly email through the holidays, and social posts, funded by owners who choose to support the site.

The test for a listing

Three things. Independently owned. Run by the person whose name is on the door. A website or store of your own where people can buy from you directly. A business that also sells on a big marketplace is welcome, as long as it keeps its own front door open.

Who's behind it

ShopSmallBusiness.com is run by Ben Hyatt of Caffeine Group, a small marketing and web studio in Santa Barbara, California. Ben builds and maintains websites for small businesses, shoots video, and has been working with independent owners since 2006. It is an independent project. It is not affiliated with any bank, card network, or national shop-local program, and it does not sell advertising.

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