As many know, black Friday is when retailers in the US begin to make most of their sales for the year, or move from the red to the black on their annual balance sheet.
For the Amazons and the Targets and the Walmart's of the world, Black Friday is a day where money flows like a green river. According to the National retail federation, Americans are going to spend between $957.3 billion and $966.6 billion this holiday season.
And while that river of money is concentrated among the huge national chains, the small retailers and shops in our community have a vital part to play.
Afterall, there are a lot of benefits to shopping local – especially during the holiday season.
According to the Small Biz Administration, shopping local keeps money local and stimulates the local economy, reduces the carbon footprint from shipping and creates more local jobs. Additionally, small businesses donate almost 250% more to local nonprofits than large retailers do.
On this edition of Oregon On the Record we visited with some small retailers throughout western and central Oregon and talked about how they are doing, what they are doing to enhance their communities and how they have overcome and are overcoming the obstacles of the last few years that have created historic challenges in our community.
We introduce you to small retailers and small biz organizations from the Coast to the Cascades who tell you why they love being a small retailer and why they matter to us all.
Our guests on the show included:
- Dan McGarigle of Pine Mountain Sports in Bend
- Bronwen Lodato of Bronwen Jewelry in Bend
- Celeste Wong of Celeste Watch Company in Springfield
- Rachel Klinnert of Down to earth in Eugene
- Christopher Randall of Chuck and Alice in Springfield
- Betina Hanigan of the Florence Chamber
- Dwight Collins of Unique Eugene
Below are links to their organizations:
Pine Mountain Sports
Bronwen Jewelry
Celest Watch Company
Down To Earth
Chuck and Alice
Florence Chamber Of Commerce
Unique Eugene
