DAN PRICE
KELOWNA – I’ve been seeing folks wearing red fluffy Santa hats lately in Kelowna. Even though we don’t have reindeer, the Okanagan – especially at holiday time – is a great place to live and to give a helping hand to local business and organizations.
I spend much of my year on the road, traveling across Canada – enjoying the sights and sounds of our beautiful country. I eat at some great restaurants, and sometime do a bit of out-of-town shopping. I have lots of good experiences.
Now that I’m back home for the holidays, I have a short message to share with my city. Extra holiday support for our local retailers and not for profits is the best gift we can wrap up for our local economy. Need to shop? Love online? Make sure you click on some locals – bookstores, theatres, sports, arts groups – Rockets, Actors Studio, Ballet Kelowna, Mosaic Books – there are multiple ways to ensure your shopping dollars stay in the valley this holiday season. Did I mention gift cards? Restaurants that are hyper local would welcome your reservation, or your purchase of a meal for a friend or an employee or a family member.
Believe me, your purchase, when added in with those of other local shoppers – could make the difference between sink or swim for some of our local businesses. Tough economy, pandemic, wildfires, cooling economy – it’s not easy running a business right now.
The local’s list is long and rich in possibilities. In August, the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce joined forces with Tourism Kelowna following the wildfires to issue a message to tourists: “Tourism Kelowna and the Chamber represent more than 1,400 businesses in the area. Eighty-five per cent of our more than 1,000 Chamber members are small businesses. You can imagine the challenges they are facing as they see their late summer bookings drying up, and they look for ways to ensure they can keep paying their staff and keep their doors open into the fall months. We can all lend a hand by visiting and ensuring that our Okanagan dollars stay home where they do the most good.”
That message hasn’t changed as the snow flies. And really, it’s fun shopping this time of year: fewer tourists to dodge on the roads and in the parking lots; lots of product in the stores, in the malls, in the online inventory of local businesses, especially our local bookstores as authors queue up to be a stocking stuffer. And, what a great time of year to find chocolates from one of our stellar local chocolatiers.
More than 60 cents out of every dollar spent at a locally owned business circulates through the local economy compared to multi-nationals where just over 10 cents out of every dollar remains in local coffers.
Let’s all be part of the circular economy. Make it here, sell it here, enjoy it here, recycle it here, repurpose it here. The BDC told us last week that the Canadian economy was shifting into neutral for December. That means inflated prices are flattening out, and when you fill a bag with much-appreciated groceries for one of the food banks – granola bars, cereal, chunky soups, laundry detergent, canned fish, peanut butter – you know the drill – you are assisting local retailers, local residents, and can give yourself a small pat on the back.
Shop early and often, if you can, Kelowna – it’s a really good thing to do.
Dan Price is the Chair of the Kelowna Chair of Commerce