BY JON HARTMAN
Every year the Saturday after Thanksgiving is reserved as Small Business Saturday — a way to remind Christmas shoppers that small businesses would like a piece of your Christmas budget as well. But for many small businesses, this day and this season is much more important to them than you. Many small businesses balance their books during the Christmas season and Small Business Saturday helps them do this. Additionally, for many smaller cities, such as Elizabethton, small businesses are the community’s largest employer and are a big driver of the local economy.
This year, I would like to challenge everyone to spend 10 to 20 percent of their Christmas budget with local, small businesses. In 2015, the average American household spent on average $830 on Christmas gifts. 10 percent of that is $83 and 20 percent is only $166. If you take that $83 and spend it at small, local businesses you will contribute approximately $61.56 to the Elizabethton local economy versus only $13.03 if you were to spend it at Walgreens, Walmart, or Dollar General.
If every household in the Elizabethton area would shop small and local spending just $83 of their Christmas budget, it would generate over $1.2 million of economic activity in our community! If those same households spend $166 it would generate over $2.4 million of economic activity! These numbers don’t include the number of new full-time or part-time jobs created because of businesses expanding to handle more business. What an amazing impact spending so little can have on our local economy when we all participate.
In addition to creating economic impact to our community, spending money locally helps our local schools. The Elizabethton City Council has set aside 0.5 percent of the sale you make to go directly to our school system in the form of sales tax. This earmarked portion of sales tax has paid for projects such as the addition to West Side Elementary School, construction of the gymnasium at East Side Elementary School, the elevator installation at Harold McCormick Elementary School, and the construction of the new stadium and band room at the High School. If you have children or grandchildren in school, shopping locally is an easy way to provide better facilities for your child to learn and grow in. And for county school attendees, a portion of every capital project city schools borrow money for, county schools must also get a portion of the money borrowed.
I recognized that you may not be able to find everything you’re looking for in Elizabethton, but I would encourage you to follow this formula for finding what you’re looking for: shop small businesses in Elizabethton first, then chain businesses in Elizabethton or Carter County, then local or chain businesses in Johnson City, then local or chain businesses in Kingsport or Bristol, then elsewhere in Tennessee or online. So this holiday shopping season, get together with some of your family or friends, and head out for a day of shopping in some of our local, small businesses. This not only helps you, but our local small businesses, and our community! Let’s talk about it!
(Jon Hartman is Director of Planning & Economic Development for the City of Elizabethton. He can be contacted at 542-1503 or by email at: JHartman@CityofElizabethton.org)