Now that November is here, the thoughts of people have turned towards Christmas and the inevitable shopping.
Many people now wait until after Remembrance Day to begin their Christmas shopping, but stores generally can’t wait until mid-November to begin promoting their pre-Christmas specials.
In a perfect world, everyone would wait until after Nov. 11 to begin their Christmas shopping, or put up their Christmas decorations, but it’s not a perfect world.
Regardless of when you start your Christmas shopping, whether it’s Nov. 1 or Dec. 24, we hope you’ll remember to keep the bulk of your Christmas-related spending locally this year.
This is the most important time of year for our local merchants. It is often the time that determines whether a local business will make money, or if it will finish the year in the red.
It’s the time of year that influences how much a local business will have to give back to the community through donations and other support. And many local businesses are strong supporters of the community, donating thousands of dollars each year to a variety of causes.
They support our minor sports teams. They donate to our hospital foundation (which purchases equipment for the hospital) and they donate to the United Way Estevan (which supports different agencies and projects). They support local cultural organizations, and they donate to local businesses.
Local small businesses are also big employers in the community. Many people had their first job at a small business, regardless of whether it’s in retail, the hospitality sector or another industry.
And they allow people to fulfill their dream of owning a business. Entrepreneurship remains a dream for so many people. Some might not get to realize that dream, but small businesses give many people that chance of being their own boss.
Supporting small business at this time of year extends beyond purchasing Christmas gifts for family and friends. It means having your Christmas party at a local restaurant. It means purchasing Christmas decorations and other holiday-related merchandise at a local business. It means purchasing Christmas cards from local businesses.
It hasn’t been an easy year for local businesses. The economic picture is better than it was at this time a couple of years ago, but the community’s emergence from the economic slowdown has been slow. They haven’t had the volume of shoppers that they enjoyed a few years ago.
There has also been uncertainty beyond their control. The small business tax changes that were proposed by the federal government earlier this year were the source of a lot of concern. Thankfully, the federal government has backed off on many of those changes, but local entrepreneurs didn’t need the headache associated with uncertainty brought about by the feds.
Business owners should be focused on keeping their staff members employed, or providing products and services to their customers. They shouldn’t have to worry about changes could impact their long-term investments or their plans to leave their business to their children.
There are a lot of ways to support local businesses at this time of year. Try to find as many as possible. After all, the more support they receive at this time of year, the better off we are as a community.
