Small Business Saturday is the independent jewelry store owner’s best bet for capturing sales during the peak shopping days of the holiday seasonIn 2011, Cory Schifter, owner of Casale Jewelers in Staten Island, N.Y., gave Small Business Saturday a test run. Then an upstart event clamoring for the nation’s attention in the looming shadows of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the new ­initiative promised to promote local, independent merchants amid the holiday shopping rush.“I liked the message,” Schifter says. “The big-box stores and Internet are so powerful, but here was a day built to recognize and appreciate small businesses.”And though Casale Jewelers’ first Small Business Saturday produced marginal results, Schifter embraced the day’s potential. “If we could learn how to leverage the day, I thought we could hit a home run.”ZUMA Press Inc./AlamyCasale Jewelers owner