RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) – With Black Friday, Shop Local Saturday and Cyber Monday just days away, businesses are gearing up for a busy shopping season.

Local Raleigh businesses are looking forward to the needed boost that helps keep doors open and lights on year-round.

“We do 20% of our sales in the two weeks before Christmas for the entire year,” Owner of DECO Raleigh, Pam Blondin said. “The month between Thanksgiving and Christmas is huge for all of us, all of us independent stores and big stores alike.”

The National Retail Federation estimates 182 million people to shop from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday. That’s the largest holiday shopping weekend since the NRF started the national survey in 2017.

Still, a separate national survey by NerdWallet reports inflation could tighten the holiday budget of more than half of shoppers.

Better news for local businesses, the same survey showed more than a fourth of all holiday shoppers plan to look local to find that perfect gift.

“It’s not just the store you’re supporting, but the employees who are local,” Blondin said. “We, and most of the other downtown businesses, are back to pre-COVID numbers, which is a huge relief because we all believe really strongly in downtown, as a destination.”

But to stay on top, businesses, like DECO, will have to go beyond the brick-and-mortar to compete with Cyber Monday’s growing popularity.

“But we’re really trying to push that this year,” Employee James Holmes said. “We’ve put like a lot of our products on there and we’re really trying to make sure, like our products are available for people who are out of town, people who are giving it to people overseas.”