Karla's Kolumn

Today is Small Business Saturday. If you haven’t already finished your Christmas shopping, or even if you have, go downtown and check out what your local businesses have to offer. You might be surprised at what the stores in Worland offer.

Small Business Saturday is a day dedicated to supporting small, local businesses across the country. Founded by American Express in 2010, this day is celebrated each year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

According to the Wyoming Business Council, the best way to support your community this week is to shop on Small Business Saturday this year. Shopping local means finding unique, often handcrafted gifts. Supporting local stores also means supporting neighbors and friends who go to the same churches, have kids in the same schools and love the same town you do.

According to the WBC, if the feel-good reasons for shopping local don’t cut it, though, then there’s this: it just makes financial sense. A strong, local small business sector creates more jobs, boosts entrepreneurism, puts more money in public coffers through property and sales tax and raises incomes.

And the Wyoming Business Council is right. It’s your neighbors and friends who are investing in this community by opening their business in the community, by employing other friends and neighbors.

Don’t lament about what businesses aren’t here, but rather take a new look at what is here, and who is here investing in the community, hoping to grow the community, raising families in the community, who are committed to the community. These are the people you are supporting by shopping local.

Yes, Worland, as with other communities in the Big Horn Basin, have had some longtime businesses close this year. We will feel the loss of True Value and Hedge Music but Worland still has plenty to offer for our shoppers.

I don’t want to try and list all the businesses in town because I’m sure I’d miss one or two. But last year I went to several businesses in search of unique and interesting things for stocking stuffers and was amazed at what I found. Just because a store might not offer something for you, doesn’t mean you won’t find that perfect gift or stocking stuffer for someone on your list.

Even if you’re not ready to shop, go visit the local businesses and see what they offer so you’ll remember next time you’re shopping for a gift for you or a loved one.

According to the WBC, “Shopping local is vital to a hometown’s success. An economy dominated by fewer and larger companies leads to a decline in the formation of new businesses, according to the Brookings Institution. Fewer entrepreneurs means a weaker middle class. Almost 20 percent of gross job creation and nearly all of net new job creation comes from startups, according to the Kauffman Foundation.

“Fewer local businesses also leads to a sluggish economy. Case study after case study has shown mom and pop stores recirculate a greater share of every dollar earned locally.

“When economic times are tough, those local merchants are also more likely to retain and create jobs than large companies, according to a Yale study published in the American Economic Review.

“Even people who don’t work for one of those local businesses benefit, because researchers found among the 2,950 urban and rural counties they studied, areas with higher concentrations of small businesses tended to see greater income growth.

“Supporting locally-owned shops is a big deal for governments, too. Multiple studies show small businesses generate more property and sales taxes per acre than big box stores. That money translates into better infrastructure like roads, water pipes and sewer lines.

“These effects are magnified in a place like Wyoming. Of the 33,760 businesses in the Cowboy State, 90.8 percent employ fewer than 20 people. Nearly 62 percent of firms employ fewer than five people.”

This year, some of the Worland businesses are working together to encourage people to shop local. Starting today on Small Business Saturday, if you spend $20 or more in the participating businesses, you are entered into a drawing. Businesses are donating gift certificates (currently valued at more than $1,000) with the drawing for three prizes including a grand prize, first- and second-place prize. The drawing will be Saturday, Dec. 3, at 5 p.m. at the Pioneer Park. You do not have to be present to win.

So not only this year can you shop local and support your friends, neighbors, community and the local economy, you can shop local and win.