Shop local first this Holiday Season!

BY: RACHEL WUMKES

This Friday, November 18th, we are celebrating Pink Friday in Clear Lake.   Pink Friday is a movement to promote shopping small, supporting the ‘little guy’ and bringing major awareness to our local communities.  In fact, it was created by the Boutique Hub, which is an online community that connects small boutiques across the country.

They knew the importance of small businesses and decided to shine the spotlight on them to encourage everyone to shop small.  CEO and Founder of the Boutique Hub, Ashley Alderson, states, “There has never been a more important time than now to shop small first.”

We agree, Ashley!

We’ve all heard of Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving when the masses head out to snag all the best deals.  Hard to find items would be placed on sale with a limited quantity available to create a buzz of excitement.  People line up for blocks around the big chain stores, hoping to get their hands on whatever the hot commodity is this season.

Back in the day, when the doors opened in the wee hours on Friday morning, it was like a herd of cattle trampling across the open plains.

They’d push.

And shove.

People would do about anything to get their hands on the big-ticket items and hot deals.

Pink Friday takes a bit of a different stance on holiday shopping.  The annual event is held on the Friday BEFORE Thanksgiving.  It emphasizes small shops to band together in the mission to get our communities to SHOP SMALL FIRST.

That means before you go to those giant stores that literally carry everything from the kitchen sink to socks to snowmobiles… hit up the local stores in your community.  Just think, if all the shoppers in Clear Lake would purchase even just one gift from a local store, the ripple effect through our community would last for months.

And I guarantee there will be no pushing or shoving!

When you buy local, you aren’t just throwing your money into some sort of corporate money pit to be doled out in bonuses to people you don’t know.  Instead, your dollar goes to your neighbor, your friend.  It goes to support the local sports teams and music programs.  They say when you spend money in your community, it will be invested six times over.

And you guys know how excited we get at the Chamber about shopping local, right?

I mean, do y’all remember these shenanigans from last year when Stacy and Rachel dressed as silly-looking elves and paraded around our local businesses??  We “shop hopped” through the community, visiting Chamber Members and highlighting gift ideas for the holidays.  It was a big hit with local businesses, and we had SO MUCH FUN.

So much, in fact, we decided it shall forever and always be a thing going forward.

With a twist.

This year, we are jumping on the PINK FRIDAY bandwagon!  Stacy and I will be visiting local businesses on Friday, November 18th throughout the day.

And trust me… you thought our holiday attire was something else?  You better buckle up, friends, because this year is going to be one for the record books!  While Stacy will try not to “shoot her eye out” Rachel is going for more of a crazy sugar plum fairy look.

Oh my, I hope I didn’t give too much of a hint, there.

I guess you’ll just have to tune in to our Chamber Facebook Page on Friday!