There’s a certain group of people who are feeling very fortunate right now. They get to enjoy these last few weeks before Christmas.
They’re finished their Christmas shopping.
No more time spent worrying about parking lots and lineups and trying to find that extra special gift for that special someone.
For the rest of us (and we’re likely in the majority) we get to worry about the last few weeks of shopping. We have to contend with everyone else who is looking to get their shopping done. And we have to cross our fingers that the gifts we want are still in stock.
If we’re trying to ship something, then we’re running the risk that it won’t be there in time for Christmas.
But for those of us who are still worried about our Christmas shopping, there is one thing that should be a goal for all of us: the need to shop locally.
It’s become a common refrain, especially in the past few years: shop local. Support the businesses that support your community. Don’t take your shopping dollars to the larger centres, and don’t rely on Amazon, either.
A recent report from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business can only be described as disturbing: the majority of shoppers have admitted to showrooming, in which they’ve browsed a local business to try out or learn about a product, and then they have gone online and purchased it from a big box store.
What is wrong with some people?
Are they not smart enough to realize how harmful this is to a local business? Don’t they recognize how important local businesses are to their community? Or are they so incapable of breaking free of their need to shop online?
Showrooming is an incredibly selfish act. They’re likely asking the local business owner or an employee to take the time to demonstrate something, and then they go home to purchase it from a location outside of the area.
Entrepreneurs deserve better treatment than that.
We have yet to see Amazon sponsor a local kids’ hockey team, donate to one of the many charities making a difference in the southeast region, or contribute to the arts, culture, recreation and health care organizations that make this community go.
It wasn’t Amazon or Costco or Best Buy who helped the St. Joseph’s Hospital Foundation raise so much money at its recent Festival of Trees.
It’s local businesses, and the employees who work at those businesses, who enhance the communities we live in.
So in these last couple of weeks before Christmas, be sure to shop local. Don’t showroom. Don’t go on a big shopping trip to Regina, Moose Jaw or Minot because they have that big corporate feel that some people are enamoured with.
If you can get it here, buy it here.
And with the uncertainty that is gripping this region, it’s more important than ever to shop locally. We don’t have the money floating around Estevan and other southeast communities that we did 10 years ago. It’s become a lot harder for local businesses to be profitable. Money spent outside of the southeast region, when it can be spent here, hurts the region.
Besides, who wants to take the time to drive to Regina, go to a big city mall or a big box store, look for a place to park, contend with the thousands of other people in the shopping area, and deal with overwhelmed workers wouldn’t know you if they hit you with their car?
Finish your Christmas shopping in a place where it will make a difference. Do it at home.
