THUNDER BAY - It may seem too early to be preparing for the holiday season ahead, but for local businesses that rely on increased spending during the season, there’s no such thing as too early.
The Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce hosted its first Tis the Season Show and Shop at the Valhalla Inn on Sunday, a day-long show to provide small and local businesses an opportunity to show what they can offer local shoppers who are planning to host or attend holiday festivities this year.
Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce president, Charla Robinson, said she hopes the new show will become an annual tradition.
“We decided that it was time to try and help small businesses and local businesses better promote themselves just before Christmas to try and offset some of the online shopping and cross boarder shopping that happens around this time of year,” she said.
According to Robinson, there are a number of new businesses opening up in the city and this is meant to provide an opportunity to raise their profile in the city, while also encouraging people to keep money in Thunder Bay.
“What we are hearing is online shopping is a real concern and they have seen impacts on their business because of online shopping and cross boarder shopping,” she said. “A lot of the retailers here also have online shopping options through their store and they are trying to make people aware of that.”
Rena Litt, owner of Chocolitts, said events like Tis the Season provide small business owners with a great way to get their name out into the community.
“A lot of people don’t know what’s out there,” she said. “Events like this kind of makes it a little easier for people to see what is out there and it’s like one stop shopping.”
“We’ve got a lot of great businesses opening up,” Litt continued. “I think keeping the money here in the city is worth it and a lot better for everybody involved. It keeps the money in the city, our economy is growing, and we have a lot of people moving in here. It really helps the small businesses.”
Many local businesses rely on the holiday season to make or break their bottom line, Robinson said, so keeping more shoppers locally not only helps business owners, but the city as a whole, because local businesses are a source of jobs, taxes, and charitable giving.
“This is a time of year when folks really do spend than they would on a regular month so a lot of businesses depend on Christmas purchases to make their business successful,” she said. “So if we are not shopping locally we are going to see these business potentially not be able to survive. That is why we think it’s important for people to shop local.”
