By Jeremy D. Wells
Carter County Times
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and the next day – Black Friday – is widely accepted as the biggest day of Christmas shopping for retailers big and small. Nowadays that also includes online retailers, who in addition to Black Friday events have their own “Cyber Monday” events, named for the day many folks return to work, and then spend the day working on their shopping lists instead of their job.
But there is another shopping event that falls between those – Small Business Saturday. It’s a day dedicated to purchasing things from small, locally-owned shops and businesses.
Both the Olive Hill and Grayson Chambers of Commerce are celebrating Small Business Saturday and encouraging folks to shop local when they can.
It seems like a thoroughly modern issue, and a thoroughly modern solution, but buying things from outside vendors rather than our own local shops is nothing new. The internet and Cyber Monday might be a recent development, but before the internet there were catalogs and other mail-order options that many might have turned to in order to save a dollar or two over the prices of local vendors. But then, as now, you were taking a risk when you ordered an item sight-unseen.
Though it’s a running joke now, Wish.com isn’t the first time vendors have used their physical distance from a purchaser to pull a bait-and-switch with a product that isn’t as described.
Back in 1924 the Carter County Herald was encouraging folks to shop at home not only to support their neighbors’ businesses, but to avoid being taken in by folks selling “inferior presents” during the holiday season.
That logic still holds true 97 years later. Folks in a distant warehouse may be indifferent, but your local vendors know who you are. You know who they are. And they are much more likely to make it right if you have an issue.
Listen to the 1924 Herald, and the 2021 Chambers of Commerce and shop at home this holiday season.
You won’t regret it.
Contact the writer at editor@cartercountytimes.com