Don’t forget our local retailers this holiday season
Usually, when talking about civic responsibility and duty, it’s in reference to following the law, paying taxes, showing up for jury duty and voting, but sometimes it can be as simple and fun as buying yourself or a loved one something nice at a local, small business. And on Small Business Saturday this past weekend, millions of people all over America and across Maryland put tires to asphalt and feet to pavement as they spent money close to home.
As Becky McClarran of the Downtown Cumberland Business Association said in a recent Letter to the Editor in the Times-News, for every $100 spent at a local business, $68 stays in the community, compared to just $43 when shop ping at a chain.
According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, since the holiday’s 2010 founding, an estimated $201 billion has been spent at small businesses. That’s a lot of money being kept cycling through communities in every corner of the country.
If you’re a bit of a procrastinator and the Christmas shopping isn’t done yet, there’s no need to fret. Small businesses in Cumberland and the Historic City Center are open for business and traffic is flowing nicely on the newly minted vein of access to Baltimore Street. If you can’t find what you’re looking for in downtown, there are wonderful businesses throughout Western Maryland that will have just what you need, with incomparable service to boot.
And they’re not going anywhere either because our friends and neighbors run these small businesses and they have a vested interest in making it work.
There’s no better investment than an investment in yourself and your community.
So, get out and patronize our local businesses. There’s only three weeks left until Christmas.
"*" indicates required fields
