The peak retail sales season is upon us. There is no denying that Christmas has been considered to be at the top of the seasonal sales tree in North America for several decades and who are we to defy traditions that include sales as well as celebrations of the birth of the Christian saviour?
So once again, we find ourselves sending out the annual plea for local shoppers to shop locally.
Yes, we do hear the argument that big box retail profits don't end up in Estevan anyway, so why concern ourselves as to where we drop our dollars. We can spend our money at these retailers in Bismarck, Minot, Williston, Regina or Estevan and the profit ends up in Alabama, Chicago, Toronto or New York.
The same holds true for our oil and other resource and manufacturing industries. The profits usually don't end up in Estevan, they get sent somewhere else.
Well, the countering argument is an easy one.
While the profits may be sent elsewhere, the jobs that go to the people who deliver the profits are local. A dollar spent in a Minot Wal-Mart doesn't help the Estevan Wal-Mart clerk keep her job or hold out hope for a wage increase or year-end bonus.
The other compelling argument for shopping locally is, of course, another age-old item and that is the subject of local participation and support.
Regina, Minot and Bismarck businesses big box or otherwise, don't support Estevan's infrastructure, don't pay property taxes here and don't support our local sports teams and cultural events. And if you don't think those items are substantial and significant on the expense side of the ledger, then you haven't been in business in Estevan or in the surrounding rural municipalities.
The law requires local businesses to pay for the privilege of conducting business here. In other instances, the local businesses take on additional expenses as a commitment to their community because they believe in it. That's why it hurts them, not just financially, but also emotionally when the local consumer, whose son might be wearing a hockey jersey or equipment donated by his business, decides to go elsewhere for the big and little purchases that accompany the Yuletide.
We know, the Americans are far superior to us when it comes to marketing, selling, producing and packaging. They deliver, while Canadians are just thinking about it.
We know all about how their sales forces can deliver the product we want immediately, while the Canadian sales agent has to work with a sample, hope for delivery by next week and pray that it's the real thing and not a substitute.
That's the difference between working in a huge country with 33 million people and working in a huge country with 330 million people.
But having said all that, we simply add that while there may be a price to pay for consumer loyalty, just remember that it works both ways.
Without customer commitment to the local market, there is no market. That's a plain and simple truth. It may be one that is difficult to digest during these heady times of flowing oil, high prices, and padded wages, but it's a very real one nevertheless.
If a business is a good honest one, with personable people on board willing to deliver a better product on time at a competitive price, it deserves local support.
That's the bottom line.
