By Supervisor Zach Friend
The holiday season is traditionally one of the largest sales times for many retailers. This year, local businesses have been facing additional pressures as a result of the recent PG&E power shutoffs.
Without power, many small businesses were forced to temporarily close, employees weren’t paid and businesses with perishable stock (such as food) lost a significant amount of product.
As a community we have a unique opportunity to show support for our small, locally owned businesses as they compete with national online retailers and unanticipated challenges from PG&E — especially during the holiday season.
In Santa Cruz County, 82 percent of local businesses have less than 9 employees. Many in the mid and south county work for locally owned businesses and our local economy is dependent upon a robust small business sector.
How can we get involved?
Countywide, thousands of local businesses are participating and special events will be held throughout the county including in Aptos and Capitola.
For example, the Aptos United Methodist Church will hold its annual holiday boutique on November 30th featuring many local handmade items. From jewelry to knitted scarves, to seaglass art to cards, children’s books and more from 9am to 3pm at 221 Thunderbird Drive.
Did you know that more than half of Americans either own or work for a small business, and they create about two out of every three new jobs in the U.S. each year? Supporting small businesses helps boost our local economy and also keeps more money invested locally.
According to an analysis by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, “locally owned businesses play a central role in healthy communities and are among the best engines that cities and towns have for advancing economic opportunity and building resilient places.”
Specifically, they note work from an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta that showed that counties with larger shares of local small businesses outperform their peers on three critical economic indicators: they have stronger per capita income growth, faster employment growth, and lower poverty rates.
Additionally, an analysis from the Government Finance Review, found that smaller-local businesses (versus box stores) provide more tax revenue on the aggregate while costing less in government services.
Locally, we have many locally-owned businesses that provide a variety of options for our holiday shopping including kid’s stores, restaurant gift certificates, great coffee shops, clothing stores, jewelers, locally-owned hotel getaway options and more.
Some of these small businesses have been recognized nationally for their unique options and all of these businesses employ local residents and many are owned by residents right here in the mid and south county.
If you’d like additional information, the County has a Shop Small Facebook page where you can get more information, facebook.com/santacruzcountysmallbusinesssaturday. You may also reach out to the Aptos Chamber of Commerce or Capitola/Soquel Chamber of Commerce for participating businesses and specials.
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As always, I appreciate hearing your thoughts. Feel free to call me at 454-2200 or stop by my weekly open office hours in Aptos, Corralitos, Watsonville or Seascape.