Why I Shop Local During The Holidays

Shop small during black Friday! Support your local community!

We made it through Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday, Wishing Wednesday (jk I just made that last one up). The feeding frenzy of holiday shopping has officially begun, and this is going to be a short (but sweet) post about the benefits of supporting small/local businesses during the holiday season.

I’ll be sharing a Small Business Gift Guide next week, but first I want to talk about why shopping local is important.

When you buy paper towels, or strawberries, or a pair of shoes from the corner store, local grocer, or boutique in your neighborhood, that money goes to the family or solo entrepreneur who owns that business. That business owner, in turn, pays taxes that benefit your community. Those tax dollars build roads and parks, improve schools, and fund public service workers. When you buy the same thing from Amazon, none of that good stuff happens. Your local fruit market, nail salon, flower shoppe, bakery, and coffee shop are also what give your community its character. Can you imagine what your neighborhood would feel like if not for these businesses?

This is not a judgement on your shopping habits, merely an encouragement to remember that where you spend your money is powerful. I’ll be the first to admit I am often suckered into sales and the temptations of fast fashion. I did quite a bit of damage at some mass market retailers over the weekend, not gonna lie (or hide it from you, or pretend I’m holier than thou). Far from it: I love clothes and sales and I’m only human. BUT if you can find a balance between supporting small/local businesses and buying trendy pieces from mass market retailers, more power to you.

I think holiday sales create this kind of hectic “buy-now” mentality that encourages overspending and under-valuing, during a season which is supposed to hold family and love and togetherness as paramount. None of which you can put a price tag on… Sigh, I’m acting like a really bad blogger right now 🙊.

I’ll just leave you with this: when you buy something from a small business, a real person does a happy dance. Stay tuned for my Shop Small Gift Guide next week!

Shop small during black Friday! Support your local community!