 The holiday shopping season is officially underway in downtown Pikeville as several local shops are participating in an event known as Pink Friday. The event marks the beginning of the shopping season and attempts to get ahead of Black Friday sales and encourage local residents to shop small and shop local first. For more information on this event, we caught up with several local shop owners in the area to find out about their deals and what shopping local means to them. So we are so excited that Pink Friday is finally here. We've got all kinds of things going on downtown. All these shops are open. We've all got great specials going on and we're just so excited to see everybody out and about and it's awesome to see how many people are shopping small first. So today we're going to be here 10 to 6 and we are going to continue these specials into Saturday just because we know life happens and it's a weekday. So we're also going to have these specials tomorrow 10 to 4 but you do not want to miss them. Come in, these are today and tomorrow only. Get out, shop small, shop all these local businesses in downtown Pikeville. These are your friends, these are your neighbors. You want to get out and support them and it is beyond appreciated. Echoing Hall's sentiments regarding the importance of shopping local first is Jasmine Mead, owner of local clothing boutique, App Cycled. Stop by downtown Pikeville today for Pink Friday. Tons of small businesses are doing discounts. We've got free giveaways. Some have extended hours tonight. So here at App Cycled we're open until 9 p.m. tonight and we have 15% off store-wide. I know Faith Life Market, they've got 50% off their thrift store items. Two chicks over here has free gift with purchase and then there's just tons of others. I have 10% off, 15% off and we're just encouraging everyone to shop small first, shop local first. So come out and give us a shot at that Christmas list. Here at Pikeville Medical Center's Heart and Vascular Institute we have assembled a comprehensive team of cardiac specialists bringing expertise from all regions of the nation and the world. We have coupled that with cutting-edge technology providing them the best equipment and operating rooms available. The result is comprehensive cardiac care for the people of our region that is second to none. The Heart and Vascular Institute at Pikeville Medical Center. We also spoke with Gina Roberts whose plant shop is located in the shops at 225. With their unique storefront approach wherein several individual shop owners all share one larger retail space, the shops at 225 understand more than most the importance of local business owners supporting not only their own stores but other local businesses in the area as well. It's very important and it's really been an eye-opener for me as a new small business owner how important it is to support local small businesses. I've always tried to do that myself but I'm really determined to do it even more because it does make a difference in your local economy. For Mountain Top News, I'm Joshua Slum.