BOALSBURG — Black Friday may have belonged to big box retailers, but store owner Connie Harter would like consumers to think small Saturday.

Across Pennsylvania and the rest of the country, thousands of little toy stores, diners and other mom-and-pop shops plan to offer their own discounts and promotions to attract holiday shoppers on what’s become known as Small Business Saturday.

“It’s very important for small businesses in local communities to get that support,” Connie Harter, the owner of the Retrah clothing store in Lewisburg, said in a phone interview as she was ringing up customers at the cash register. “The money that’s spent downtown goes to local businesses to support local people with local jobs.”

American Express, the credit and charge card company, has said it created the day three years ago to help small businesses struggling during the recession. Cardholders registered online to make purchases get a $25 rebate if they make a purchase at a participating business.

But even merchants who aren’t participating in the official promotion hope to get a bump in foot traffic now that the holiday shopping season is under way. The broader hope is to keep customers coming back, lured by personal service or more unique items that are less likely to be found at larger retailers.

In Lewisburg, Harter said she is offering a special 25 percent discount on outerwear Saturday, and another 25 percent off selected items on the shop she owns next door called The Gingerbread House, which sells baby gifts, fashion jewelry and other items.

At “A Basket Full” in Boalsburg, owner Jennifer Bair said that some weary-eyed Black Friday shoppers made their gift store the last stop on their list after getting an early-morning start. Stores in the quaint village are offering discounts Saturday, though the community is making another big push in a couple weeks called “Hometown Christmas.”

Nevertheless, Thanksgiving weekend is “always very important. It just kind of kicks off the shopping season for Christmas,” Bair said. “It almost would have been nicer to have a little snow today to get that on people’s minds.”

Small Business Saturday is sandwiched between Black Friday — the unofficial start of the Christmas shopping season — and Cyber Monday, another shopping holiday concocted to get consumers excited about shopping online on the Monday after Thanksgiving.

While some retailers get a nice increase in profits from Black Friday sales, the weekend apparently isn’t as profitable to most small businesses. According to a survey of about 1,000 small business owners commissioned by Bank of America, 91 percent said the day after Thanksgiving has little to no effect on profits.

Julian Stam, the owner of Pop’s Culture Shoppe in Wellsboro, hopes Saturday helps boosts the profile of the storefront he just opened in April. The business, which sells games, toys, comics and art supplies, was only online until Stam said an ideal location opened up downtown in the small, north-central Pennsylvania community.