We are participating in today’s Ohio Blogging Association‘s All State Blog Swap. Bloggers from around the great state of Ohio are guest posting on one another blogs as a way to get to know each other and share this community with our readers. For a full listing of blog swap participants, please visit Poise in Parma today.
We are happy to introduce you to our blog swap partner, Charity from Faith, hope, and me. You can read our post, Holidays in Hartville, over on her blog!
Hmmm… that doesn’t sound quite right.
How about this one… “All I want for Christmas is to shop at the mall, push through the crowds and hand over my hard earned paycheck to a cashier that has never heard the term “customer service” that works for a big box company owned by a guy that uses hundred dollar bills to mop the sweat off his forehead while chomping on a cigar and driving his pimped out golf cart around a private golf course on Richard Branson’s Necker Island and could care less than I even exist, let alone spent my precious Christmas money with his company because he’s got swimming pools full of cash that he swims in like Scrooge McDuck and he’s getting richer every day because he won’t let even a penny slip through his fingers, wasted on something silly like paying his employees fair wages…
Okay, maybe my interpretation of holiday shopping is a little dramatic, but what can I say? I’m passionate about shopping small businesses – for the holidays and year round!
Small businesses and small business owners are one of the major contributors to the success of any community. They employ your neighbors, donate to your charities, attend your churches and spend the dollars they’ve earned from your purchases at other local businesses. They attract tourists from destinations near and far and those tourists spend money at your gas stations, your restaurants, your hotels and… you guessed it, at those same small businesses that were the reason they visited your town in the first place!
That little antique store you love to spend hours browsing in? The owner is probably a member of the local Chamber of Commerce and perhaps she employs your neighbor or your nephew. The owner of that specialty chocolates store? The florist with a shop next to that one fast food restaurant you frequent for lunch? The vendors at the local flea market? Lions and Rotary club members, supporters of the local high school’s athletic program, and financial contributors to the town’s Fourth of July celebration.
And let’s not forget that small businesses aren’t all brick and mortar! I’m sure you know someone that works in direct sales {Avon, Thirty-One Gifts, Scentsy, Premier Jewelry, Tastefully Simple, etc…} and I bet they would be absolutely THRILLED that you placed a holiday order with them!
When you patronize your community’s small and independent businesses, then you become a contributor to the success of your community too! This holiday season, your locally spent dollars and your decision to shop small will help a single mom provide Christmas dinner for her kids, will encourage a budding entrepreneur to take a chance on his dream of opening his own local shop and allow a small shop owner to pay a desirable wage to both a high school employee saving for college and a senior citizen, who simply can’t afford to retire.
You’ll probably never stop shopping at megastores entirely, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Stores like Walmart and McDonalds and other big box stores also play an important part in your community’s economy by employing large numbers of residents and providing goods that may not be as easily accessible through smaller businesses. But I encourage you, for this holiday season and from now on, to think about shopping alternatives. You spent $100 on groceries at Walmart on Tuesday, so why not head to the locally owned hardware store for that paint you need instead of automatically heading back to The Mart or somewhere similar?
This year, let shopping small be your Christmas gift to your community.
This article was written by Charity Plaster, author of the blog Faith, hope and me., a 10+ year small business owner {and shopper!} and an Independent Consultant with Thirty-One Gifts. Charity is a member of the Ohio Blogging Association, and this blog post is part of a state wide blog swap. The post is an original work by Charity Plaster and does not represent the views or opinions of www.discoverhartville.com or the Lake Township Chamber of Commerce. The content of this post can be shared and reproduced, but only with proper credit and links given to Charity Plaster and her blog.
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Great article. I agree wholeheartedly. Thank you, Charity!
Thank you, Sandy!
Great article . . . Thanks Charity . . . may we all take this to heart and instead of rushing around we step back and breath and enter that small business or pick up the phone and call our consultants
Thanks, Kristin!
Although I don’t shop small businesses as much as I would like to, I definitely agree with this article!! Thanks for writing the article!!
Thanks so much for sharing. I love knowing that when I support a small business or direct seller that my purchase makes a BIG difference.