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LOS ANGELES, Nov. 26-- U.S. authorities and local officials have urged customers to shop on this year's Small Business Saturday, a new shopping holiday that falls on the fourth Saturday of November, and which is sandwiched between the traditional Black Friday and Cyber Monday. First observed in the country on Nov. 27, 2010, Small Business Saturday is not like Black Friday or Cyber Monday, which feature big-box retail and e-commerce stores respectively such as Macy's and Amazon.com. Small Business Saturday is less about big profits and more about encouraging holiday shoppers to patronize businesses owned by small merchants in their own communities, even backyards. Avalon is a small community located in Santa Catalina Island in the western U.S. state of California, 90 km west of Los Angeles downtown, with only 3,700 residents. "We are a small business, we do 10 percent off on anything in the store on Small Business Day," Marcela Johnson, who works for a local grocery in Avalon, told Xinhua. "A lot of people here support local business, during last three days, we almost increased 30 percent. Cyber Monday comes too, we did way better last year, (online shopping) doesn't affect here very much, because there are many local supports here," said Johnson. Independent neighborhood retailers, restaurants and producers like Johnson's grocery play a very important role in the country's economic system, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), an independent federal agency supporting the interests of small business. | 
