When you walk into Barbara Gilliar's shop Past and Presents Unique Gifts in downtown Jim Thorpe, you step into a world of special treasures things you can't always find in big box stores.

Gilliar smiles brightly, welcoming visitors as they meander through the small store. The walls are filled with a variety of items for sale at reasonable prices.The floors creak slightly, showing the age of just one of the Victorian-age buildings that breathe life into the area's local economy.Gilliar's store is one of the many businesses that create a patchwork of beautifully unique shops throughout Jim Thorpe that depend on locals and visitors to make a living.Shoppers will find the same experience in many of the other shops in Jim Thorpe, like Mulligan's Unique Toys and Gifts, Nature's Trail, the Mauch Chunk 5&10, the Gem Shop and Rainbow's End, just to name a few.To help stores like the ones you will find in downtown Jim Thorpe or in other business districts throughout the region and across the country, American Express is again sponsoring Small Business Saturday this weekend.The event is designed to offset the bigger sale days following Thanksgiving Black Friday and Cyber Monday, which are tailored to big retail chains and online shopping.In the Carbon and Schuylkill county areas, that means many hardware stores, clothing boutiques, antique shops, pet groomers, restaurants and more will open their doors and offer deals on personalized items and services that cannot be found in larger retailers such as Walmart and Target.Gilliar said it is important to shop locally because it helps local people trying to make a living stay in business."Without the people coming in to support us, we would have nowhere to go," she said, noting that this is the second year her store will offer a 10 percent discount to shoppers during Small Business Saturday.Anne Marie Fitzpatrick, owner of Nature's Trail, said the day provides small businesses with a little more help than the normal shopping season because it brings to light the importance of shopping small."We can't compete with the big box stores," she said, adding that small stores offer two things that most big stores can't a large selection of unique items and friendlier customer service.Marge Mulligan, owner of Mulligan's Unique Toy and Gifts, couldn't agree more with her fellow business owners."People enjoy the atmosphere of small-town shopping," she said, pointing to a variety of items she has in stock. "We're not like a mall that has the same types of things."Alice Wanamaker, member relations director of the Carbon Chamber and Economic Development Corporation, said there are "many reasons why consumers should get out and shop local on Small Business Saturday and every day.""Traditionally, Black Friday has been a day for stores to offer specials and deals to get customers in their doors and spending money," Wanamaker said. "Small Business Saturday is a day that allows us to focus on the stores that really are the backbone to our communities. The money spent in our communities with small businesses stays in our communities."That is the biggest impact we as consumers can have is to ensure that our neighbors have a successful holiday shopping season by buying unique gifts from a local vendor."To help promote the effort, CCEDC will host the Carbon County Mug Walk from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays through Dec. 13 at the Old Mauch Chunk Train Station in downtown Jim Thorpe.Participants will receive a mug full of coupons offering deals throughout the holiday season, including services and deals at Blue Mountain Ski Resort, Pocono Whitewater, Galen Glen, Bear Mountain Butterflies, Country Harvest Market, Cross Fit, Red Castle Brewery, Penn Kidder Library, MM Designs, CruiseOne, the Law Office of Adam Weaver and Seventh Moon Wellness Spa."Any small business open on Saturday is a participant," Wanamaker said.