Small Business Saturday will take place on November 30th this year. The day after the Black Friday deals, this celebration is to focus on small businesses instead of giant corporations. The Small Business Association conducted a study in 2018 and found that 99.9% of all businesses are considered small businesses (under 150 employees). Keep in mind, the majority of the businesses in our chamber have an employee base where you could conceivably know everyone! There are a number of benefits of supporting local small businesses.
Local Economy
Spending money in your own community will often help uplift those around you. When businesses thrive in an area, often times there are many long-term benefits for the community. Businesses pay property taxes, which help to support things like schools, roads, and improvements in infrastructure. The healthier the businesses, the better the community.
Know Your Products and Services
Referring to Google to ask a question is something most of us do. But being able to do work with someone you know and trust has many benefits. You are able to work with people you already have a relationship with and who know the products and services you are interested in. Instead of having to find a business to help with something you need, you may already know someone in the chamber who can help.
Our People Support Our Community
Look at the Food Truck Event, Light Up Night, or the 3rd of July Street Fair and you will see that our local businesses do a great deal to support our communities. This reciprocal process of helping our local businesses while they are in turn helping our communities is an essential part of the fabric of what makes our area unique.
Local businesses need your support, no matter how big or how small. There are big box stores like Fox Books trying to put family-owned organizations, like The Shop Around the Corner, out of business (yes, that is a reference to the 1998 classic romantic comedy You’ve Got Mail). Help out when you can and support the businesses in our area. One of the benefits of the chamber is to help uplift our community and the businesses around us.