By Staff
At the time of this writing, there are only a few short days left until Christmas. For those who've put their shopping off until the last possible minute, that likely means a mad, desparate scramble to find gifts for family and friends. If this year is anything like every other year, that's a pretty large percentage of us. With all we have going on, it's easy to let gift-buying slide until time's beginning to run out.
And deadline shopping isn't easy, largely because there will be so many people engaged in it.
We encourage our readers to make things a little easier on themselves -- during the next few days and year 'round -- by thinking local first when shopping during these final few days before Christmas. Your drive will be shorter, the crowds will likely be smaller, and the money you spend will come back to you over and over as the new year progresses.
As we've written before in this space, every dollar spent in the community turns over countless times. It finds its way from the merchants we shop with to other businesspeople, to the city and county through much-needed sales tax collections, and eventually into our schools, streets and other publicly supported services.
Shopping here at home is a way to maintain and improve our local communities, making the quality of life better for ourselves and our neighbors.
There are plenty of strip malls within an hour or so's drive, but there is enough right here in town to meet most needs too. Certainly enough that your local merchants should be first in your thoughts when looking for those final gifts between now and Wednesday.