Just a reminder to support your local small businesses when shopping for the holidays. So many are struggling to survive during these difficult times.

Heading out to Spanky's (a favorite restaurant) for their "Hearth @ Home" take-and-bake dinners, second weekend in a row. (Alas, the ready-made cocktails in a jar are no longer available. Legal issues??) We also have purchased multiple gift cards from several local eateries which we will not use until the new year.

Lots of offers for extras offered around here when buying local. Feel like I can't even keep up with their giving back...

I always try to buy even by mail something from Ely

Great reminder, Lee, although in our case, we don't need much of a reminder. We try to support the small business owner any time we can.

Two examples:

When I needed a snowblower a number of years ago, the model I wanted was available at Home Depot. The small gas engine shop a couple miles down the road had the EXACT same snowblower for EXACTLY the same price. I bought it at the gas engine shop. Home Depot wouldn't have cared if I bought a $1,000 snowblower or a $5.00 box of nails. The gas engine guy showed me the features on the snowblower, helped me load it and, most importantly, THANKED ME for my business.

A couple years ago, I was in the market for a new gas grill. Home Depot and Lowe's both had the grill I wanted, but the locally owned Ace Hardware two miles from our house had the same grill at the EXACT same price. I bought it from the hardware store.

I can't think of a good reason NOT to buy from the little guy in situations like that. It felt pretty good to support them, especially when they're in a battle with the big boxes every day.

Especially knife makers.

Good post, very important.

I'm going out of my way to NOT buy from Amazon this season. Even if there's a small premium it feels better to support small business.

Completely agree. Most of our presents for other people are 1) calendars produced by a friend of ours with photos of local wildlife to benefit our local food bank and assistance center. The calendars are paired with locally made chocolates that benefit a local chocolate maker. And they are really good people and so I suspect a fair share of that goes to charity and other small businesses too. We’re very sheltered, so I can’t just wander the local shops as most years, but have done a few other craft person and small business purchases too. Some are local and some are around the country.

Karl, hope you are making selling some of your gorgeous knives.

walllee: "Just a reminder to support your local small businesses when shopping for the holidays. So many are struggling to survive during these difficult times."

We live in south central Kansas. This summer, I bought $2,000 of paint, $2,000 of vinyl plank flooring and another $2,000 of lumber and other miscellaneous home improvement supplies for both ours and our daughter's house.

We shop local and I tried to shop local for these projects. The problem is that our local suppliers were all willfully ignorant, inconsiderate deniers who refused to consider my well-being and the well-being of my larger family. So, instead of driving 10 miles into Hesston, I chose to take my business 40 miles away to Menards in Wichita where the appropriate safety measures were being employed.

These local people are my friends. They have only recently begun masking themselves, but are weakly requiring their customers to comply. I have advised Ken, Mick and Renee that they lost around $6,000 of business due to their indiscretions in this regard.

This is a two-way street. I am retired, but my wife just left for her pediatric healthcare office where she will, once again, encounter child after child, along with their families, who have Covid. We are all connected. Shop local as able.

When I’m home it’s bacon for everyone! Haha! Funny how the big stores allowed to be open are largely China goods. At least try to buy stuff made in America anyways. I was supposed to bring a canoe to a shop in New Mexico. The shop owner had to cancel his order because of the strict mandate to not open for business. He had to go work elsewhere for now.

Note: Businesses like Piragis are open regardless of Minnesota mandates. Good for them... don’t overcrowd, use your head as far as precautions. No need to shut down the livelihood of so many people. South Dakota was a breath of fresh air to drive through. So much more relaxed... people are happy, healthy and prosperous!