One of my favourite things to do when the holiday shopping season starts is to collect all the gift catalogues that come in the mail and bring them to my nieces and nephew.
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They take out their magic markers and start circling, sometimes indiscriminately, sometimes furiously with exclamation points, the things they want. It’s a good system. Efficient.
But when I take them to explore local shops, check out the holiday displays and see what’s on the shelves, often it’s something that isn’t in any of the catalogues or in the big-box stores – it just hits the holiday spirit differently. There’s something magical about seeing their faces light up as they take something off the shelf they’d never thought of before.
It’s not just good for the soul. Shopping local comes with the added bonus of a major community benefit. When you shop at a local store, 66 cents of every dollar you spend goes back into the local economy – 70 cents if you live in Ontario – versus only 11 cents when you’re ordering from an online giant. That’s money that gets reinvested in local employees, local supply chains and local infrastructure.
2024 has been a challenging year. Inflationary pressures carried over from 2023 and interest rates were high through the first half of the year. All of us are feeling the cost-of-living crunch.
According to a recent Angus Reid survey, 46% of Canadians plan to spend less for the holidays compared to last year, while only 8% will spend more.
Small businesses have been feeling that crunch, too. Across the country, business owners have been telling us that demand is down. We’ve seen more businesses close their doors and fewer and fewer open to replace them.
Statistics Canada’s latest data for June 2024 shows a sharp decline in business openings to 4.2%, the largest drop since August 2021. Meanwhile, business closures jumped up to 5.0%, the highest since June 2020.
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Recent labour disruptions have led to supply chain interruptions and plenty of uncertainty as we head into the all-important holiday season. Now is the time to help small businesses finish the year in the black.
Local businesses need our support, and there’s no better time to give it than on Small Business Saturday, the annual celebration of shopping small and supporting your local community. This year it falls on Nov. 30, between Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Where we can this holiday season, let’s bring back some of the magic of shopping small and exploring our communities.
After all, it takes one trip to your neighbourhood shop to make someone’s day, whether for your nieces and nephews, or for a small business owner.
– Ryan Mallough is Vice-President of Legislative Affairs and Communications at the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB).
Small Business Saturday® encourages local shopping and provides posters and other promotional tools for businesses. SmallBusinessEveryDay.ca and JeChoisisPME.ca.