Call it a mantra. Call it repetitive. You can even call it harping, but each year the Progress feels a duty to encourage Pickens residents to keep their dollars close to home during the holiday shopping season.
In 2009, as the nation tries to pick axe its way out of the craggy pits of a recession, we feel it is especially important to support our homegrown retailers.
If you haven’t noticed, half of the shop fronts in downtown Jasper are vacant, and new retail stores and restaurants frequently close their doors just months after opening.
We continually hear concerns of the declining state of Main Street and surrounding retail strip malls.
But truth be told, we can’t blame anyone but ourselves. The state of Pickens’ retail market is a cumulative result of us spending our money in other places, either online or in another city.
So enters the Catch-22 of shopping locally during a recession. If Pickens retailers are few and far between, how are we supposed to keep our money inside county lines? What can you buy when selection seems, on the surface, to be so limited?
The solution is get creative. There are plenty of options if you give it a little thought. Think outside the box and give gifts that have more character than mp3 players and video games. Think about holiday shopping as a way to check out a store you have always wanted to see but have never made the time to visit before now.
The good part is the more you support local stores the more they succeed and the more they will be able to offer better products, longer hours and more variety in coming days.
Prospective business owners will then be more inclined to open up shop in the future. Would you open a unique or specialty shop here and now?
When local businesses thrive, they can support other businesses, charities and sports teams in the community. They create jobs, and they pay local taxes, and, pertinent to the Pickens economy, their managers can afford to buy homes here.
When you are out shopping on familiar streets, you support other local businesses as well. You may pop into 61 Main or The Carriage House for a bite to eat, or dip into the yoga studio at Foothills to see what classes they have to offer.
The short of it is supporting local businesses will provide Pickens residents a higher quality of life.
If you need some gift ideas, pick up a copy of the Mountain Rambler on newstands now. This new free monthly publication comes from the same folks who bring you the Progress’. December’s Mountain Rambler includes a gift-giving guide with nearly 30 gift ideas––most from retailers here or somewhere in the Georgia mountain region.
Even if you don’t purchase the exact gift we suggest, it may get those little cogs rolling around in your head and spark an idea for something you hadn’t before considered.
Live plants from a local nursery, for example, would be a welcome gift for the gardener on your list. Or, perhaps, you may consider hitting one of the many antique stores in town. Those are always stocked with reasonably priced, one-of-a-kind items.
Only by continuing to shop near home, keeping our money in our own community, can we maintain and expand a thriving local market we can be proud to call our own. |
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