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Small businesses around Troy were busy Wednesday preparing for the upcoming Black Friday and Small Business Saturday sales days, two of the biggest days of the years for retail stores.

At Glow, manager Brittany Royal said the store has been using the first part of the week to prepare inventory after already having a big sales day last weekend.

“Last weekend kind of kicks off the holiday shopping season and this weekend just continues that,” Royal said. “We try to get everything prepared, out and priced over these few days before it gets crazy on Friday.”

The store, like many, is opening early on Friday with big savings deals, especially for “doorbusters” who are there right when the store opens at 7 a.m. And like clockwork, residents  line up out the door waiting to get in.

Over at Rustic Linen and Family Ties, employees were working on holiday trimmings as the sales weekend approaches.

Most small businesses in the community close down on Thanksgiving to spend time with family and relax before what is one of the biggest sales days of the year.

According to the National Retail Foundation, more than 174 million Americans shopped from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday last year and those shoppers spent an average of $335 per person during that five-day period. American shoppers spent a record $5 billion in 24 hours according to CNN Money.

For small businesses, bringing customers in on these sales days can be crucial to the businesses and also puts money back into the local economy.

“By supporting Small Business Saturday in Pike County, you are keeping money in our local economy,” said Dana Sanders, president of the Pike County Chamber of Commerce. “Our community is blessed with a number of small businesses that offer personalized services and unique offerings that you couldn’t find in big box retailers. We would like to encourage our citizens to shop local this holiday season and support businesses that support our community.”

According to the Small Business Administration, there are 28.8 million small businesses in the country, 99.7 percent of all businesses in the US. And small businesses accounted for 64 percent of new jobs created in the U.S. between 1993 and 2011.

“This is an important time to support the small businesses in your community,” Royal said. “For most of us, this is how we support our families. And we all live and work right here in this community.”