The grinch that might steal Christmas this year is a broken supply chain that could cause the gifts you ordered well before Black Friday to arrive just in time for Valentine’s Day. That might be a slight exaggeration but I might not be too far off.
So while Black Friday has been a long standing and fun post-Thanksgiving activity, we suggest you stay home on Friday and go out Saturday, as in Small Business Saturday.
I get it might be a hard change of mindset. Trust me, Black Friday used to be my favorite day of the year. It was like a sport to find the greatest deals and a great way to work off the calories from that amazing Thanksgiving meal. Sometimes I’d start at midnight, hit the mall and then go to a select number of individual stores like Target, Best Buy, etc. I now realize that Black Friday is really a day for fast fashion companies to take advantage of the ultra consumerist mannerisms of shoppers. Fast fashion brands eat up Black Friday.
Now I don’t ever go to those stores because I don’t support brands that are not sustainable and it’s hard to find sustainable goods in the big box stores.
Whether or not you shop sustainably, you should still skip Black Friday and go local on Saturday.
Why You Should Shop at Small Businesses for Christmas & Chanukkah 2021
Part of the reason we have a global supply chain headache is because no one was shopping at all, not at small businesses or many businesses actually. We all got addicted to shopping online which has helped result in a backlog this country hasn’t seen in recent history. But this year there are so many reasons to shop at local stores.
- Small businesses might not be as dependent on the global supply chain as the stores that get most of their goods made from China. Go local, buy it there and take it home. No supply chain problems. Your gift is guaranteed to be under the tree.
- Small businesses were hit hard. Most businesses took a big hit during the pandemic but small businesses were especially hurt. Hundreds of thousands of businesses closed during the pandemic, most of them small, according to Marketwatch.
- Shopping locally is always better for the environment and your local community. The money stays local, and if the goods are made locally and there is no shipment needed that reduces the carbon footprint of your shopping experience.
- Shop Second Hand. Shopping at local thrift stores and vintages stores is my #1 tip. The inventory is endless. The inventory has the potential to change every single day. You can find one-of-a-kind gifts that no one else will ever have. The price will be better. Vintage is just cool and all the young kids appreciate vintage over new. In general, while apps like DEPOP, Poshmark, and eBay don’t set a Black Friday sale on their sites, a majority of the time the sellers will set Black Friday sales so you can shop secondhand with a discount! Also, many thrift stores have Black Friday sales.
The History of Small Business Saturday
Small Business Saturday was actually started by American Express to help small businesses gain exposure. The day became official in 2011 when a lot of politicians, including President Barack Obama, showed their support for Small Business Saturday.
American Express has reported that since Small Business Saturday became a thing, an estimated $120 billion has been spent at small businesses over the last 10 years.
When is Small Business Saturday?
It’s always the Saturday after Thanksgiving. This year it’s Saturday, November, 27, 2021
If you are trying to find small businesses to shop at for Small Business Saturday, you can Google, “small businesses to shop in LA for Small Business Saturday”
If you have any questions, please contact me at LexySilverstein@gmail.com.
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