LAPLACE  — Across the nation, millions of shoppers will flock to their local malls and favorite stores the day after Thanksgiving, which has become known as Black Friday.

Officials in St. John the Baptist Parish are encouraging shoppers to shop local on Saturday.

Nov. 26 has been designated as Small Business Saturday, a day locals are encouraged to skip the trip into the big city and support their local businesses.

It’s part of the Shop Local, Shop St. John campaign launched in 2012 by the St. John Economic Development Department and Economic Development Council (EDC), in conjunction with St. John businesses and merchants.

The mission is to support locally owned, independent businesses in St. John Parish, to maintain our unique community character, provide continuing opportunities for entrepreneurs and build community economic strength.

According to the St. John Economic Development Department, more than 100 local businesses have signed up to participate in Small Business Saturday. Some will offer special deals and discounts for shoppers.

For a complete list of participating businesses, visit stjohneconomicdevelopment.com/directory.php.

Shoppers also can look for special signs in shop doors and windows for participating merchants.

One of those is Mollere Furniture, located at 2812 W. Airline Highway in LaPlace.

It’s a “mom and pop” store owned by Janet and Kevin Mollere of Reserve.

Janet Mollere said she hopes the day will bring shoppers into the store to see what they have to offer.

“I think it will bring people in,” she said. “I know a lot of people go out for Black Friday deals.

“I used to do all that too. We don’t really have sales. Because we’re a mom and pop we don’t have to pay the overhead, we don’t have to hire the extra sales people and we’re able to keep our prices low.”

Paul Millet at Saint Optical said he has kept his business open on the Saturday after Thanksgiving for as long as he can remember. This year he is hoping the campaign will encourage locals to visit the smaller businesses in the area and keep the money in the parish.

“Everybody should shop local,” he said.