Editorial

Shop locally to help your community

Posted

Before their Thanksgiving dinners even cooled, millions of Americans began lining up outside the mega-stores to be among the first to get at Black Friday deals. Next week, people will hunch over their computers to get the best sales on Cyber Monday.

But in between Friday and Monday is Small Business Saturday. It’s a day for you to shop at your local businesses and support those vibrant and important parts of your community.

Small businesses are the backbone of any town. More so than big companies, they give back to their communities. They sponsor Little League teams, join chambers of commerce, take part in fairs, festivals and parades and donate their time and services to local schools and charities.

Running a successful small business has only grown more difficult over the years, in the age of Walmart and Amazon. That’s a sad irony, given how valuable these shops, markets and offices are to their municipalities — not only with their donations to local causes and organizations, but with jobs that employ local people.

The commercial and residential health of small towns is intertwined: thriving small businesses attract more small businesses, which means a larger tax base for your town (and perhaps lower property taxes for you).

The last thing Long Island needs is rows of abandoned storefronts lining the main streets of our villages and towns. But that threat will be all too real if we don’t support the businesses that are in place now. Your hard-earned money can and should be directed to the commercial enterprises that help bolster the economy and livelihood of the community you live in.

Sure, you could wake up hours before dawn to wait on line in the cold, then fight your way through crowds of desperate shoppers to save a few bucks on a big-screen TV or some clothes. Or you could wake up Saturday morning after a good night’s sleep and visit one of your local shops, likely run by someone you know, for personal service that you’re not going to get at a big-box store.

On Saturday, shop local, and then eat at a local restaurant. The money you spend in your downtown will pay dividends for you and all of your fellow residents.