Biz Buzz
By Dianne Lively Yost
Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas is one of my all-time-favorite holiday stories! That sour old grumpy, green Grinch pops on the scene as anti-friend and anti-community as it gets. He’s bad-mood personified. An angry victim out for revenge!
No doubt if the Grinch were a real live person (and I know some that come right close), he’d definitely be an impersonal shopper. He’d do most of his shopping online, in a big-box discount store or better yet – in a hectic, scary-packed shopping mall.
That’s because the Grinch just doesn’t like community. Period. He looks through reality from the blurry, mud-caked glasses of an isolated outcast. That is . . . until the end of the story.
In Morgan County, so many of us have jumped on the buy local, eat local movement. We know that by supporting our local businesses and farmers, we support our entire community. Our home. Our friends. Our cities. Our towns. Our tourism industry. Our very livelihood.
I work with a family owned business just like many of our local retailers, restaurants and service businesses. One of my job’s great perks is that I personally know many of the people who own and operate our local businesses. I know their families. Heck, I know some of their secrets and they know some of mine. I know about their challenges and their triumphs and they know mine. That’s because we’re friends in this community.
We’re all in this together! In a place at 33.3900° N, 83.4900° W on the great and beautiful planet earth. Morgan County. Drive around. It just doesn’t get much better than this y’all. We are so blessed with a beautiful countryside, wonderful and interesting towns and one-of-a-kind shopping and dining destinations.
There are more than 18,000 people in our county. That’s a lot of buying power right there – power to keep our businesses vital and growing.
So we’ve got to bank local. Insure local. Dentist and doctor local. Auto maintenance local. Hair salon local (talk about secrets). Chamber local. Newspaper local. Yoga local. Acupuncture local (yes that’s available in Rutledge). Movie local. Real estate local. Chiropractor local. And most of all SHOP LOCAL.
It’s so important.
I know you might not find every single thing on the Christmas list at home, but you can certainly find most it! Trust me! All you have to do is check out what your Local Morgan County shops have to offer.
This is Thanksgiving week. Let’s give thanks to our community. But, better yet show thanks to your community by shopping and supporting local businesses. Black Friday? Make it green and Go Local. Small Business Saturday. GO LOCAL! It’s a no-brainer for the entire Holiday season and beyond!
Make your dollars support your local economy. The cool thing is that you’ll be shopping among friends. In your community. Your home. It’s fun!
And, that ole Grinch? Well in the end he found out about the spirit of Christmas. That it doesn’t come from a store. He found out it means a little bit more. Christmas comes from community. With family. With friends. So this year, shop local. Make Christmas mean a little bit more.
Shop Local Guide:
Our local shops and restaurants are offering fun promotions to add to the Christmas cheer. Madison’s Main Street program even has a promotion to commemorate Small Business Saturday on Nov. 29 with a Spend $29 on the 29th campaign. All day long, any time you spend $29 or more at a shop, salon or restaurant in downtown Madison you can enter to win one of two $100 Downtown Dollar prizes! But, don’t forget our shops throughout Morgan County! Check out specials our Morgan County retailers are offering in this week’s newspaper!
