Small Business Saturday offers Washingtonians a change to get started on holiday shopping while avoiding big box retailers and online behemoths. While the coronavirus pandemic means that the Nov. 28 event will look quite different from previous years, a number of local nonprofits, business districts and neighborhood organizations are hosting events and promotions to keep customers shopping locally.

Alexandria Shop Small Week

Again, who needs a day when you can have a week? Alexandria’s first-ever Shop Small Week kicks off Friday and runs through Dec. 6. Around 50 independently owned boutiques in Old Town and Del Ray will offer discounts and gifts with purchase, and shoppers can snag free metered parking. Masked members of the Elf Patrol will hand out gift cards from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. from Nov. 28 through Dec. 19. The 700-1100 blocks of King Street will be blocked off for pedestrians to allow for social distancing.

Anacostia Arts Center

Nubian Hueman, Mahogany Books, The Fresh Food Factory, and Vintage & Charmed, all at the Anacostia Arts Center, are open on Saturday, offering accessories and apparel; books; food items; and vintage clothing, respectively. All shops also have online shopping available.

DC Shop Small

Small business owner Mallory Shelter started DC Shop Small as a way to help local businesses pull in online sales during the pandemic. Saturday’s virtual event features more than 300 local businesses offering special discounts, gifts with purchase, and other promotions. Participating shops include purveyors of jewelry, clothing, plants, books, baby items, specialty food, home goods, and more. Shoppers can upload their receipt to the initiative’s website for the chance to win a gift box of items from local businesses, valued at $900. The event is co-hosted by District Bridges, a nonprofit that supports small business in local neighborhoods.

Downtown Holiday Market

D.C.’s annual Downtown Holiday Market runs daily from 12:00-8:00 p.m. daily through Dec. 23. The outdoors shopping village takes up more street space than in previous years to allow for social distancing (F Street NW, between 7th and 9th Streets NW). Visitors will be directed to a single entrance in front of the Portrait Gallery and follow a one-way path through the market, where more than 70 vendors will sell crafts, antiques, food and beverages.

Holiday Market at the Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center has transformed Victura Park, part of its new REACH expansion, into an outdoor holiday market. The market runs Fridays to Sundays from Nov. 27 through Dec. 20. Local artisans and vendors will sell goods, and there will also be light snacks, beer, wine and seasonal drinks like spiked cider available for purchase.

Shop Small Georgetown

Small Business Saturday? Why not Small Business … Two Weeks? The Georgetown Business Improvement District’s Shop Small Georgetown event kicks off Saturday and runs through Dec.12. Businesses will offer promotions, gifts with purchase and raffles. The BID hopes to attract in-person shoppers to its narrow sidewalks with its window and streatery decorating competition (the theme is “Silver Linings”). Those needing gift inspiration can cull through the BID’s curated gift guides featuring items from Georgetown shops.