MARION (WSIL) -- Business owners came together for a second year to host "A Holiday Shop Hop."
To celebrate Black Friday and Small Business Saturday, nine Marion stores are encouraging shoppers to shop and eat locally for a chance to win a $1,000 prize.
You can stop by places like Lavish Bath Box, grab a card and stamp it as proof for participating.
"Black Friday is hard for downtown local businesses because we're competing with the big box stores today. So seeing everybody come out and support local, just, you know, is a great thing," said shop assistant Shari Fowler.
Shopping isn't quite the same since COVID-19, but Southern Illinois Mercantile Company says this event always brings some positivity.
"I love seeing people come and go and just, I don't know there's like a tenderness during this time of the year and it just seems even more this year with everything our world has gone through," said co-owner Tanya Miller.
And customers say they appreciate the businesses taking the time to do something for the community.
"They're not getting enough revenue from having to shut down, having capacity limits and stuff like that, and I think this is very good to get everyone involved and it's a fun activity to get a reward at the end too," said Paige Newlin.
If you missed out on the shop hop, you can participate on Saturday.
