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It’s coming fast and furious; shop locally

Here comes Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday and Giving Tuesday — all named to bring you attention to shopping for the holidays.

With one less week than last year between Black Friday and Christmas, you are probably feeling the pressure. Relax, we know how to get your holiday shopping dollars go further, and that is shopping locally.

Here are the reasons that benefit YOU:

1. You get to talk to a real person who can help you with your questions.

2. You save money on gas rather than driving out of town to malls or chain stores.

3. You save time not having to stand in lines, fight crowds or find a parking space.

4. The money you spend locally helps lower your village, town and county taxes.

There is also the ripple effect where the dollars you spend at local businesses stay in the area, tripling the impact to our communities:

1. Local businesses pay into the local economy through inventory, utilities, equipment and employer wages.

2. These dollars spent by local businesses at local businesses continue to recirculate in the community.

3. More consumer spending occurs as employees, business owners and others spend resulting income locally.

Before you shop, remember that much of the money you spend at local independent businesses is recirculated locally. When you shop at a chain store, much less is circulated locally. And when you shop online, zero percent of what you spend comes back to our local economy.

We all need to be mindful to support our local businesses that support our sports teams, fundraisers and events, making this a great place to live and work. We might save in the short term by shopping with the likes of Amazon; they are weakening our communities throughout the country.

All we are saying is, try to shop local first before spending money elsewhere. Before you order online or go to a big-box store, check out our local businesses that support this local newspaper with advertising the unique and inexpensive items such as, books, clothes, toys, tools, appliances, jewelry, decorative items and more. It is the best gift you can give yourself and your community when you shop locally.

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