Holidays are fast arising and people are scrambling to save money and get the perfect gifts for their loved ones. There is something about the gift giving season that makes me excited and stressed at the same time and it comes down to what to get for my friends and family.
Though I typically like to get crafty and make my gifts, I understand time is a fickle thing and sometimes buying is beneficial as well. Now when it comes to buying gifts, it’s always so easy to go to Target or any mall or mass market department store and pick something out that hundreds of other people are probably getting as well. Convenience is everyone’s preference since the holidays are stressful as it is, but this season you should sacrifice a little bit of convenience to help your local businesses.
There’s a couple reasons why you should shop at local businesses not only during the holiday season, but more often than major retailers in general. First and foremost, you’re supporting your community and the families within. Your money wouldn’t be going to some multimillion corporation that doesn’t do much for your community. Instead, it will be feeding families, making the local economy better, sending kids to schools, actually paying taxes that fund beneficial programs. Local businesses may be more expensive that the regular department store, but think of all the benefits that come from it.
Secondly, the gifts would be more unique. Each family/local business has something special to offer, so exploring them as much as you can to find that perfect gift makes it that much more valuable. Some stores will have everything handmade while others collect one of a kind trinkets and knickknacks. The gift buying experience may be a little more difficult because there’s so much to look for, but it all pays off in the end when you get that perfect present.
Lastly, it’s more sustainable. While local businesses can still have manufactured products that are 100% ethical and environmentally friendly, they are still much better than your large-scale retailer that constantly pollutes the environment, underpays workers, use harmful chemicals, and have unsafe work environments at their overseas factories which they could avoid using if they just sucked it up and manufactured in their home country. The more we force large scale companies to implement more sustainable and ethical work practices, the better our community and environment will be moving into the future.
We need to a better economy to our communities and the best way to do that is to shop local businesses. Not only will it benefit us, it will show the big retailers that we don’t rely on their cheaply made products.