see how much you can save. choose by the gig or unlimited. xfinity mobile. a new kind of network designed to save you money. call, visit, or go to xfinitymobile.com. a very special small business saturday edition of "your business." we are out of the studio because we're here in franklin, tennessee. at one of america's great main streets. we talk to merchants on this street to ask them how they're getting people to shop local. we'll show you how some e-commerce companies are opening local pop-up shops to take advantage of small business saturday and i head out in my neighborhood in brooklyn to check out businesses i've been dying to try fast. let's work smart and shop local, that is coming up next on "your business."

>> hi. i'm j.j. ramberg and welcome to a special small business saturday edition of "your business." small business day is november 25th and every year we dedicate an entire show to celebrating this day, which kicks off the holiday shopping season for small businesses. this year we're doing it from here, in franklin, tennessee. franklin has it all. southern charm, deep musical roots and a thriving main street which you could see behind me. just 20 mail myles from nashville, it is named after benjamin franklin. but it doesn't end there. right here in franklin less than a mile from this spot, one of the bloodiest battle of the civil war raged and it was a turning point, ending the conflict a few months later. people come to franklin not just for the history but the for the

unique shops lining the main street but they have a second retail district. called leaper's fork, a throw back to a different time where distilleries are hidden away and a supermarket is where celebrities and justin timberlake and miley cyrus call home and we talked about how they get people to shop local not just on small business saturday but every day. >> when we decided that we were going to hope a retail store, the only place i ever wanted to be was on this street. >> holly rawlins was a new comer to franklin, tennessee when she embarked on what seems an impossible mission five years ago. >> i had business cards made with my name and phone number and say, hey, if you hear of anyone thinking about moving off of main street, please don't

forget about me, call me first. >> when she looked around main street she saw a perfect mix of new and old and she knew she wanted to be part tv. and now savory spice shop at 324 main street is one of the busiest spots in downtown franklin. >> it is real. it's how we pay our bills. we employ nine people. i never thought i would be able to employ nine people and that is a thrill. and we're little and teeny, tiny, but we're growing in a lot of different ways that are tulely impacting our community. >> that street is dotted with places like holly's changing the fabric of the town and attracting a modern crowd and nothing illustrates this more than this property right here. >> this is an interesting moment in time for this book store in this building because you have this historic building and this book store of used book and around you they are building a brand-new hotel. what do you think about that. >> well we're very excited. because franklin in the historic district desperately needs hotel

space. and they're also providing additional parking which is good. luxury apartments and more retail, so we're very excited about their project being built around us. >> and presumably more customers for you? >> absolutely. and for all of downtown main street. >> land mark books is housed in a 200-year-old building that has been a cotton factor, a grocery store and a field hospital during the civil war. the owner is not only in an expert of out of printed rare book and also serves as an in formal town historian. >> what role did franklin play in the civil war. >> people do not realize that franklin probably was a major factor in the ending of the civil war in the western theater. late in 1864 there was a battle fought here that only lasted five hours but it almost destroyed the southern army of the tennessee. so very important battle here which was not planned, it happened by accident. and of course they surrendered

in april of 65. >> and at 419 main street, it is franklin theater. >> it issa jewelry. the heritage foundation went out and raised the money and transformed it. >> once a small depression era movie house, the franklin theater has been rebuilt. it still has the original charm but it is also now a state-of-the-art venue for live music and events. >> the franklin theat ser a place where we would like to think that we actually touch people's lives by hosting events that inspire them, connect them and entertain them of course. things that actually go out and ripple around the community to change the culture of who we are. >> so what do you host in here. there is a sound check going on right now. >> well we're in the middle today of doing a television production for the daily and vincent arts show for the vsp channel and we're a live music venue and the reportists range from art garfunkle and sheryl crow and michael mcdonald so kevin mo to bluegrass to cajun

to -- the gateway chamber orchestra. >> while the theater is central to maybe streein street, the fa sign outside of the old pharmacy turned restaurant turned grays on mainish the sign has been there since the 50 you and the grand opening was unbelievable. we had a party outside. we closed down main street. we had no idea how many people would come. 4,000 people showed up. 4,000 people. it was amazing. >> this building is that important to this area. >> yes. so when you talk to the people back in the day, they said that when they would go out of town and they would drive into franklin when the sign was on, they knew they were home. so we knew without a doubt that that sign was very iconic and it meant a lot to folks. >> just a few minutes away from downtown franklin is a beautiful rural oasis called leapers fork where every establishment has a fire pit and a few celebrities have been known to hideaway. lee kennedy is own of the

leaper's fork distillery. >> it is very earthy and grainy. >> the dynamics of the little town are very interesting. you have all walks of life. singer and song writers, executives, you also have old moon shiners and some of the old faulks that have been here for hundreds of years. we get a lot of weekend tourists that people want to get out of the city and get a piece of americana. we have a local roadhouse/restaurant called pucketts grocery that does live music six nights a week. country boy restaurant and local art galleries. everyone has a fire pit in their front yard. it is the fabric of the community. >> back in downtown franklin, julie walton, the third generation owner is also getting ready for small business saturday. she'll be running a 10% off promotion and expects people to be coming through the door all day. >> so there is a great push in downtown franklin in general for small business saturday. so what better way than to all

get rallied together with the country and support each other. >> it is a great way for people to then spend their money where it goes invested right into their community. >> holly williams is country music royalty. she's the granddaughter of hank williams and the daughter of hank williams jr. and she ras released three albums. but there is not only that. she owns whites room and board and has five retail stores and we're in one of them right now in franklin. hi, holly. how are you? it is so good to see you. you are a lot taller than me. hi to get on my toes. >> i'm wearing heels today. >> thank you for that. this store is lovely. >> thank you so much. >> tell me how you describe this. >> i describe it as a general store for the modern day taste maker. it is called white's mercantile after my grandparents on my mom's side. my grand grandfather owned the mercantile in small town louisiana and even on my dad's hide, hank williams mom owned a

mercantile so it is a family thing sh the retail is having a hard time around the country. what makes this so special. how do you get people to walk through the door here. >> when stores are personalized it makes you feel that connection and i hope when people come in here they could tell that it is curated by people. myself and my amazing team and employees, we all hand pick every item. we love items with stories, we love helping local designers, we give a certain amount to charity. and hopefully it feels like a small town store. even though we're not in a small town, a tiny town. >> well frankly is pretty small. let's move through some of the stuff. what are yu favorites. >> this is an amazing brand of a local cosmetic company with bath salts and candles and they do amazing things for women that have been coming out after diction. so that is one of our favorite local brands ishlgs and i like the stuff that is here that has a story from your family. >> yes. there is all kinds of family stuff. ive curated the store to what did my grandmother love.

what did my grandmother love. their house was not one style. it was eclectic and southern and warm and modern and vintage and i love bringing in items to make a cozy and warm home. i actually did some custom candles with a candle company and in honor of them, this the june candle after my grandma and this is the warren candle -- it is she loved magnolias and roses. she did those notes in there. and this is kind of men's smokey tobacco man cave. so that was named after them. >> can i show you my favorite thing? >> yes. >> i love it. it is right back here. it is right here. your knife kit. explain this. >> that mcs me so happy. my grandfather was a grim shaw artist. >> and ask you explain what it is. >> so hes would take ivory, this is back when you could buy ivory legally, and do these amazing

drawings on it. i found this through a maker and it is kind of make your own and cool for artists. they could draw their name -- >> and i love it and i've never seen anything like. this. >> it is unique. >> which i found a lot going through the store. >> thank you. we try to bring products in a town where you could buy anything anywhere and we are surrounded by tons of shops and it is a fun challenge to find things that you don't see all of the time. everything from scrim shaw to men's knives to beard oil to dog food. we just try to have everything but like the best quality in that item. >> talk to me about small business saturday. are you doing something special? >> we are. we're going to do 20% of our sales to two of my favorite local charities. one thistle farms and one is called insect slavery tennessee. and then we'll have some drinks and food and just kind of a fun environment for people to come in and shop and hopefully feel like they're adding to our local economy and all of us work together. there is many employees and

everybody that benefits from small business. >> thank you so much. >> thank you so much. >> and best of luck with the holiday season. >> thank you so much. it is exciting. >> anyone who has done it knows renting retail space can be a costly investment. but one company is trying to change that. self labelled as the air bnb of retail space appear here is making it easy for online retailers to find a place of their own in some of the hottest shopping districts in new york london and paris. >> it all started with an idea. ross daily wanted to sell a line of beautifully designed t-shirts celebrating the queen's jubilee in 2012. so he begged the landlord of a tiny shop in so ho london to let him rent the space for just a week. >> hundreds of people were outside. the t-shirts got banned by buckingham palace and it got a lot of hype and excitement and i sort of looked to -- at what we'd done. if i had done this online, i don't think it would have been

as successful. >> he thought there had to be a way to replicate his success for others. the concept was simple. make retail space as easy to book as a hotel room for as long or as short as needed. >> we could pop up during this moment where everyone is excited. you could appear and disappear before people get bored. >> his company appear here started out with london retail spaces available for rent on their online platform and then branched out to offer locations in some of the hottest shopping districts in paris and new york. >> you got top photographers and designers to go out and photograph the streets and people and cure ate guides and i think the reason is you want to get in from the right people and think about what is is that street, who are the people there and why are they tla tl and we want to make sure that people understand who those audiences are so they could get not just a connection, but they could realize what street best matches who they are. >> washington, d.c. based daniel

burg, the founder of healthy snack line burg bites booked a space for six days to appear here in downtown new york. >> it was in soho on 128 thompson street, it was a great location and a lot of foot traffic. we started off the foot night with a party and had hired a d.j. >> as an online business, the week long pop up store helped them drum up publicity that they wouldn't have been able to get. >> we had the "wall street journal" come down and take a photos and helped us get news coverage that we otherwise may not have gotten. >> getting face-to-face access to the ideal customer helped guide the growing business's next steps. >> we learned so much about our customers and that was the main goal and that is why we're rolling our raspberry flavor because we saw how crazy everyone went for that flavor at the pop up shop. >> australian bears hairline neon and ko sells online and booked in new york to test their staying power in the global market place. going through appear here allowed them to do this at a

pretty low cost. >> this guy was a real insight into what we could offer the american market. and then we felt that we could do this on a permanent basis so people could enjoy the experience that we felt that it was an opportunity for local new yorkers to test us out and see if we could cut it out with the rest of the world. >> connecticut based active wear line rhone started selling online in bloomingdales. but they knew that if they could get their product in front of potential customers in their own store, they could do a lot better. >> as a small brand, predominantly online, you are choosing how to connect with a customer. building stores is expensive and committing to long-term leases but appear here is giving small young brands the ability to get in front of customers in physical retail and for us that we knew that would be impactful because once guys try our product they come back and buy more. >> they rent space at new york's

book field place and next to some of the world's biggest luxury brands. >> we could never afford to open a store here at the stage of company that we're at. and if you did, it is such a long-term bet. so you are really kind of taking an unnatural risk being a part of the community in retail is very important. and kind of understanding the fabric of what you are going into, what we found is our chufts definitely are here and they are walking through here. and it is a great location for us. so it is a low cost way to test markets that gives us the ability to then make longer term bets which we'll do. >> smaller businesses aren't the only ones using appear here. kanye west and others have used the platform and ross hopes this is just the beginning. >> what we should see is the right stores opening next to each other so it doesn't become a cookie-cutter situation where every street has the same stores an the same brand, it is all the same.

and i think that the key retail streets that stay interesting today have to think about where they are relevant and why do they matter, who is the neighborhood. i just think they have to be much more aware of what makes them different to the main street around the corner. whenever i'm in a new city i try and check out some small businesses that look great. for example, here in franklin, tennessee, i'll probably be coming to the franklin theater to see what is playing. but it kuoccurred to me that evy day in brooklyn i pass businesses that are great but i never have time to see what they are all about. so in the spirit of small business saturday i decided to try something new to dedicate a day to check out the business that i always walk by. >> i'm here in brooklyn where we have some of the best restaurants and cafes and stores, but because i'm busy, i often don't have the time to

check out of the new ones. so today i'm going to spend the whole day going into places that i wanted to try out, but haven't had the chance to yet. so i'm here at tiger shark with the owner doug wang. so good to see you. tell me about the concept behind this place. >> we wanted to create a community space that could service many different people in the neighborhood. so we wanted coffee for the early morning workers and then also provide lunch for our people in the neighborhood who freelance or work remotely. >> what attracted me or us to this place is i've walked by it a thousand times and i see surfboard in the middle of brooklyn, my husband is a surfer -- >> i lot of people that we meet out surfing live in this neighborhood. so we thought that we could bring a little bit of beach to prospect heights and brooklyn. >> well i have to try your coffee. >> let's try this drink.

great. you have a new customer. >> the next stop in the neighborhood is juniper. but before going here i wanted to pick up my son because you've been wanting to come here? how come. >> because i do acupuncture and i went to is far away. >> should we go check it out. >> yeah. >> we've walked by here, a thousand times and we've been so dying to learn it. >> we are a flower shop in the front and retail space and in the back we have a healing arts center and studio. so we have yoga classes, prenatal yoga classes an treatment with acupuncture and psycho therapy. >> are you ready to be the guinea pig? >> enjoy your session. >> all right.

>> how do you feel, sweetie? >> good. >> you tried something new in the neighborhood. do you think we'll be coming back? >> yeah. >> looking forward to it. >> we'll make some appointments. >> i just went home and swapped kids because my daughter clover would have killed me if she found out that i went to this next place without her. brooklyn owl, why are you excited to go in here. >> because i love unicorns. >> and what do they have inside there. >> unicorn stuff. >> should we go look. >> yes.

test. and we go through a detailed explanation about how shopping small can change the economy in your community.

every day, on every street, in every town, across america. small businesses show their love to you. with some friendly advice, a genuine smile and a warm welcome they make your town... well, your town. that's why american express is proud to be the founding partner of small business saturday. a day where you get to return that love, because shopping small makes a big difference. so, today get up, get out, and shop small. this is the eighth national small business saturday. you know, it's so important to have it for small businesses. what do small businesses need

more than anything else? more customers through the door. let me rephrase that. more buying customers through the door. so how can we create that sort of scenario whereby they can have more people coming to shop. we can do that by getting our communities to support our small businesses, shop there, eat there, go see a new small business that you haven't been to before. because you know small businesses are absolutely the glue of communities. >> did you see a big company normally on the back of the little league t-shirt as a sponsor, it's the small businesses in the town. >> joining taos talk about the importance of small business saturday and why now more than ever consumers need to shop local is senator is shaheen from new hampshire, the ranking member of the senate small business committee. so nice to see you, senator. >> nice to be with you. nice to be here to talk about small business.

>> well, it's a great, fun time to be talking about it. consumers out there know they should be shopping at small businesses. what did you tell someone who just needs the extra push. >> small businesses are so important to our economy. they create two out of every three jobs. they have more patents than larger businesses. they employ a lot of our friends and neighbors. in new hampshire, over 90% of businesses. they employ over 50% in the state. we need to support them. >> i think what people need to realize, if they love their community, if they do not support small businesses, they will disappear. i'm sure you have seen that happen to quite a few communities, have you not? >> well, absolutely. and that's one of the challenges. those small business folks are usually the people who contribute to the local sports teams who are part of the local chamber of commerce, who promote

the community they're in in so many ways. we need to support them too. >> what are some of the small businesses you love going to? >> i have two daughters who are -- one started two small businesses, another started another one. >> what are they? >> one is a clothing business. one say business that helps with nutrition. personal nutrition profiles. and i have a granddaughter with diabetes. so her mother got into nutrition. the other has both a retail store and wholesale clothing company. it's very exciting to the see. you know, it's like a child having a baby. because you see all the successes when your profits, you start to see them increase. you have all the challenges too with complying with regulations, capital and all the challenges

small business owners face. >> you sure do. it makes everyone i know feel good to know that the people who you on the senate making the laws around this have real personal experience. you say, here, what are the challenges you're dealing with. you can get into the nitty-gritty. i appreciate you coming by to talk to us. this is a really exciting day for us on small business saturday. >> it is. >> and a chance to remind all consumers to shop local. it really, really matters. it's great to have you voice on. >> absolutely. go out on november 25th, small business saturday. tell your local businesses how important you think they are and how much you appreciate what they do. >> all right. thank you so much. >> thank you. >> where do your dollars go when you shop on main street? we follow the money to find how shopping local affects you and your community. we've all heard the slogans. support small business. locally sourced. but is the shop local movement

really helpful to the communities that adopt it? yes. first, thriving small businesses need support. they hire accountants, cashiers and contractors who spend wages locally. second, small businesses pay more in local taxes. and their taxes pay for roads, schools, and social services. third, according to some studies, communities only get one out of every $100 spent online. they get 15 times as much from the big box retailers in their towns. local communities can see $45 of every 100 spent in stores. in fact, the look local first, in the greater des moines area, shifting 5% from big box stores to local retailers generated more than a billion dollars for the community and created more than 6,000 jobs. >> thank you all so much for

joining us today from franklin, tennessee. we love hearing from you. if you have any questions or comments, send an e-mail to your business @msnbc.com. please take a chance to go to openforum.com/yourbusiness. we posted all the segments plus a whole lot more. i wish you all a very fabulous small business saturday. don't forget, try something new. shop local. and we will see you next time. every day, on every street, in every town, across america. small businesses show their love to you. with some friendly advice, a genuine smile and a warm welcome they make your town... well, your town. that's why american express is proud to be the founding partner

of small business saturday. a day where you get to return that love, because shopping small makes a big difference. so, today get up, get out, and shop small. morning, glory america. srb thanksgiving weekend. i'm hugh hewitt. i interviewed hillary clinton on wednesday. a panel of clinton watchers will join me to slice and dice that long and controversial interview. and we will cover the rising death toll in egypt, which is over 300 now. the financial protection bureau being run by mcmulvaney. and president trump hinting he