Reasons to Shop Local This Christmas
Christmas is a season of giving so what better time to give back to your local community than by supporting small businesses and shopping local. Many local businesses have been hit hard this year with Covid making supporting local that much more important this year! Here are reasons why you should shop local this Christmas Season and how you can do it throughout Northwestern Ontario.
Support the Local Economy
One of the biggest reasons to shop locally is that more of your money stays here in our community. By shopping local, you’re supporting the small business owners, their families, and their employees. And when they turn around and use those profits or wages to pay for products and services that money continues to circulate within the community.
Find Unique and Creative Gifts
These days it seems like everyone has everything they need which makes shopping for Christmas that much harder. Finding a unique and meaningful gift at a box store can be a challenge. When you shop locally, your gift options become a lot far broader. You might find handmade art or pottery, locally roasted coffee, unique clothes, and items you won’t find anywhere else. Besides just being unique, the items you’ll find in the small businesses in your community are likely to be much higher quality than products you might get elsewhere.
Now that you know the reason to shop local, lets talk about some places you find great local products.
Thunder Bay:
- Goods and Co Market. This new woman led market supports many local companies in our community. It is a great place to find products for everyone on your list!
- Tourism Thunder Bay: This website has a list of the all BIA’s in the city with lists of the businesses in them https://www.visitthunderbay.com/en/see-and-do/local-shops.aspx
Kenora:
This year the Kenora Business Partners have once again combined efforts to announce the return of the ‘Keep it in Kenora’ shop local campaign for the 2021 holiday season. There are special holiday events and experiences happening to make Christmas shopping extra special in the City of Kenora. Below are some of the programming details:
- Festive Fridays: we are encouraging merchants around Kenora to stay open to 6pm on Fridays (and consider extending your hours on the weekend)! We will list businesses and promote those that are going to stay open until 6pm on the Ken and Nora social pages and the City website. Email kenandnora2021@gmail.com to be included and be sure to use #FestiveFridays on your social media.
- Follow the Ken and Nora social media pages for shop local contesting. Ken and Nora have an Instagram page that can be found here: https://www.instagram.com/kenandnora/ and Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/kenandnora. If you have things to share or tell Ken and Nora, please email: kenandnora2021@gmail.com.
- Free metered parking downtown in December – City Council has approved free metered parking in the Harbourtown Centre for the month to encourage local shopping.
Shoppers in Kenora will be reminded of these promotions through print, radio Blitz, social media and Big Belly content provided by Wake Marketing!
Remember to shop local this holiday season!