Copyright vernonmorningstar
Christmas is coming fast, and if folks haven’t already started their holiday shopping, they’ll soon be looking to find the perfect gift for those nearest and dearest to them. For many, Christmas shopping is done efficiently online. Surfing Amazon can yield quick results. Etsy has no shortage of crafts that work as stocking stuffers. But taking the time to shop with a sense of community in mind can have a powerful impact, one more wide-reaching than it may seem. Dollars spent on online retail websites yield the object sought, but dollars spent in the little shop down the street double as a vote of confidence for the shop’s very existence. From now until Christmas, The Morning Star is exploring the benefits of shopping local with an eight-part series. The stories in this series highlight the value of keeping holiday dollars in the local economy, with practical advice on how to fulfill your holiday shopping wishlist while doing so. The series will introduce the people behind the counters at various local stores, provide gift ideas that can only be found locally, and delve into the ripple effect that sees local spending build stronger communities. It will highlight downtown holiday traditions in the North Okanagan and holiday happenings for the family, finishing with a last-minute local shopping guide for those procrastinators out there. This first instalment will seek an answer to the question that underpins the series as a whole: Why does shopping local matter this holiday season? Many will recall the shop-local campaigns that cropped up amid the COVID-19 pandemic. When the pandemic was hammering businesses big and small, the call to shop local was among the leading economic messages coming from business experts across the country. This holiday season is different from past years. The economy has cooled amid a tariff war instigated by U.S. President Donald Trump and taken up by Mark Carney, who has made efforts to strengthen relationships with other international trading partners in his first months as prime minister. Regardless of the federal government’s manoeuvres in the world of international trade, Canadians are taking it upon themselves to buy Canadian — a spending decision that mirrors the shop local movement on a national scale. So how can North Okanagan residents make that decision for their local community? More importantly, why should they? Send in your thoughts, suggestions and stories of how shopping local has made a difference to you, to editor@vernonmorningstar.com.
