A week from today, some of us will be heating up the Thanksgiving leftovers, while others will be neck-deep in the Black Friday crowds.

Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Kohl’s and the like will likely be at capacity with people clamoring for the best deals on electronics, clothing and this year’s other hot new items.

A few days later, Cyber Monday sales will be in effect as retailers like Amazon promote their best online sale prices.

With all these chain retailers and big box stores trying to best each other’s prices, the mom-and-pop stores are often left to be forgotten.

Thankfully, American Express created Small Business Saturday to help return the focus to smaller, family-owned retailers.

Small Business Saturday was started five years ago and helped America’s small stores reap some of the holiday rewards.

Locally, Ironton aLive is once again sponsoring the Small Business Saturday effort and encouraging people to head to downtown Ironton to take advantage of some special deals.

Thirty-three Ironton businesses are participating this year and a sheet of one-day coupons will be available in the Thanksgiving Day edition of The Tribune and in printable PDF format online at www.irontonalive.com and on Ironton aLive’s Facebook page.

It is certainly convenient to load up the shopping carts at big box retailers, but there are no better places to find unique and thoughtful gifts than at small local retailers.

This year, make sure to focus on supporting your community by shopping small.