OUR VIEW: Shopping small can make big difference

Published 1:00 pm Thursday, November 28, 2019

If you like to shop — and probably even if you don’t — this is a week you’ve had circled on the calendar all year.

Today is officially Black Friday, one of the busiest shopping days of the year. Retailers play it up all year long with Black Friday sales in the summer, pre-Black Friday sales and special “prices lower than Black Friday” promotions throughout the year.

However, nothing can compare to the real Black Friday.

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We certainly understand the allure of a big box store and all it can offer this holiday season, but we also urge you to shop locally. Chambers County might not have a Target, Kohl’s or Best Buy, but it does have local shops that may be offering special deals this week.

With no offense meant to a large retailer, anyone can buy an item off a shelf at one of those stores, wrap it and call it a day. But isn’t a local gift — one unique to our area or to the person who made it — even more special?

If you are going to a Walmart to shop Thursday or Friday, we definitely hope you’ll visit our local one before running to another community.

When you shop here, those tax dollars stay here, paying for better roads and other local improvements.

We urge you to try to cross items off your list locally before heading to Newnan, Atlanta, Columbus or Opelika.

We understand that you may not be able to find everything on your shopping list in Chambers County, but we’d be willing to bet you might be surprised at how much you can find.

Also, don’t forget about Small Business Saturday, which is a nationwide day to highlight smaller companies. It’s uniquely placed on the calendar just one day after Black Friday, giving small businesses a chance to earn your money after most people spend Thursday and Friday at large retailers.

Remember this week that shopping small could make a big difference in our community.