To the editor:
During this holiday season, I wanted to highlight the importance of shopping local. In a world where anything you want to buy is a simple click away or a convenient stop at a big-box retailer, it is increasingly difficult for small businesses to compete with mega-buying powers. As I've gotten older and had the pleasure of working in locally owned and operated businesses, my perspective on "cost" has changed drastically.
I was born and grew up in the Lower Mainland and spent a few years living in Eastern and Northern Ontario. I have lived in communities where options were only big-box retailers and city councils actively created barriers for small business entry.
It was not until I moved to the Terrace area that I realized how vital small businesses are to the local economy. The local shops, restaurants, and services create the fabric of this community's identity.
Terrace is a community that welcomes diversity, enjoys the outdoors, appreciates the familiarity of faces and names, and stewards a slower pace of life. This is evident in the wide variety of small businesses tailored specifically to the demographic and local market. No one knows their market better than an owner who has lived and breathed Terrace for many years.
Every time I spend a dollar in Terrace, the ripple effect of that transaction reaches new heights and great depths. That dollar goes to families, livelihoods, building relationships, and economic growth.
When I go to a River Kings game and see the sponsors on the boards, I am reminded that I can enjoy hockey from home because businesses want to be involved. When you bid on an item at a silent auction, a business has endorsed their support for a local charity or fundraiser. When the parade comes through for Riverboat Days, I get to marvel at all of the floats because a local organization has taken the time and energy to create something exciting for the spectators.
While you may be saving a few dollars on "cost" during your transaction at a major retailer, your reach ends there. The opportunity cost of that dollar is incredibly valuable to a small power and they want to earn your business, not simply acquire it.
Inflation hurts everyone, and the best vote of confidence in your local economy is to participate. Therefore for the holidays, I urge you to consider where the benefits of your cash are going. How much are we really saving by ignoring the owners, operators, and employees that have carried the legacy of Northwest BC life?
The only way Terrace retains its identity is by the community continuing to endorse it.
Mikayla Schweyer,
Thornhill, B.C.
