This is certainly not the first time you are going to read a shop local editorial in this newspaper and it won’t be the last. We hammer it home because it’s important and we’re not going to apologize.
The reasons are many and you’ve likely heard them all. Yet, too many people in this community who love the lifestyle still make their buying decisions in isolation from what makes most sense for greater Nelson’s greater good. Spending your money outside the West Kootenay does nothing to sustain what we all cherish so much.
Let’s take this very newspaper as an example. Presumably if you have gotten this far, you value local news and opinion. We do too and thank you for your support.
What brings this newspaper to life every Wednesday and Friday are the businesses you see scattered throughout these pages. From the small retailer in the downtown to the chain stores in the Chahko Mika Mall to the car dealers throughout the area, they are as vital to our success as we are to theirs. They employ us and we in turn help employ them. The spinoff for readers is you continue to get all the important news, views, arts and sports this community is chock-full of.
With the arrival of the Christmas shopping season, the push from local merchants, the Nelson and District Chamber of Commerce, the Nelson Business Association (and us) is stronger than ever. Local businesses need this season to make the books balance for the rest of the year. We need to support them.
The temptation to travel to Spokane or Kelowna for shopping is strong, but those businesses will not provide your favourite community group with a donation for an event in April. The property taxes Okanagan and American businesses pay won’t help keep the roads plowed in the winter and Lakeside Park blooming in the summer.
We are all partners in ensuring this tiny, fragile economy works. Money comes in, money goes out. If it stays local then everybody wins.