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Saturday, November 28, 2015 is Small Business Saturday®. It is an important opportunity to support our local Bonners Ferry businesses with patronage. By supporting local business on this date, we demonstrate as consumers how important local businesses are to our community, and we support the growth of job development within the community.

American Express helped launch Small Business Saturdays on November 27, 2010. The U.S. Small Business Association also provides advertising and marketing support for the event. The idea was originated to offset the massive spending by consumers on Black Friday and Cyber Monday at big box retailers and online outlets. In 2011, the date was officially designated with huge support from Washington D.C. to Washington State, including the governors, mayors, congress and the President. Local consumers across the nation supported their neighborhood businesses in 2014 by spending an estimated $14.3 billion at small businesses.

When one chooses to shop at his or her locally owned stores, they are not only saving themselves time by not travelling to other destinations, but they likely are also saving money. Traveling out of town for one’s shopping needs requires the cost of gas, time away from home or work and, depending upon where you go, could also mean a higher sales tax. If you are an Internet shopper, you may save time, but not always money. After all, those shipping costs can quickly add up.

Why not make a conscious effort to do as much local shopping as possible? The benefits to you and the Bonners Ferry community are many.

Small business owners are known for their contributions to the many nonprofit agencies that in turn help our friends, family, neighbors and colleagues. In fact, statistics show those locally owned and operated stores are two and half times more likely to donate to nonprofit agencies than the large chain stores. Small business owners are the ones who take the money they earn and reinvest it into their community with their own purchases of goods and services. Can the same be said for the “big box” stores? By shopping at locally owned stores you are not only helping to stimulate the local economy, but you may likely be helping other people in the community who rely upon several of our non-profits during the down times in their lives.

One of the other benefits of shopping local includes the opportunity to get out and enjoy all that our beautiful area has to offer. We often are in such a hurry with our daily lives that we don’t tend to enjoy being a tourist in our own community.

So before the calendar fills up too quickly, be sure to set some time aside and enjoy all that Bonners Ferry has to offer.

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