Close To Home

As the holiday shopping season kicks off with a bang on Black Friday, most people will rush to their computer screens to get started. Which is … sad. For many reasons.

E-commerce has dominated American society for years, and the pandemic only hastened that trend. It used to be that getting a package delivered to your house was an event; today, for most people, it’s just Tuesday.

We all pay the price in many ways, including a massively bigger carbon footprint at a time when climate change is no longer a theory — but nobody pays so severely as local businesses. Small retailers had so many headwinds to begin with, often operating on a razor’s edge, fiscally. The changing nature of commerce is a gale, and it’s sinking many locally owned independent businesses.

This is a tragedy, and not just for those businesses: Communities suffer when their local business districts struggle. They become less vibrant, there are fewer jobs and money flows out of the community instead of recirculating. Forbes.com has cited the oft-repeated statistic: Thanks to the multiplier effect, for every $100 spent at a small local business, $68 stays in the community, becoming dollar bills passed to other neighbors providing goods and services. Over and over.

Amazon’s vast expanse will bring some jobs to a distribution center at Gabreski Airport, but, really, how much of that money spent with the behemoth in a few clicks will ever be seen again locally, unless Jeff Bezos himself happens to visit?

And so Small Business Saturday, just two days after Black Friday, is a reminder to shoppers. But it will mean nothing without local shoppers heeding the call and paying attention. It’s not just a marketing scheme — it’s a cry for help from close to home.

Shopping at local stores is an investment in a community’s growth and stability. According to Forbes, for every $10 million of spending at local businesses, 57 jobs are created; the same amount buys 14 jobs at Amazon.

It’s an investment in other ways. Buying sports gear at a chain retailer will save a few dollars; buying it at a local sporting goods shop will mean dollars that will be reinvested in local Little League clubs and soccer camps, or supporting food pantries. And keeping stores healthy in the winter offseason will mean that both year-round and part-time residents who are here outside of beach season will continue to have shopping options beyond seasonal shops and grocery stores.

The service is usually personal, which is lovely but also extremely beneficial. You can wonder if the plants you’re buying online will actually grow here — or you can get your advice at a local garden center. And if you buy locally and need customer service after the purchase, you’re a lot more likely to come away satisfied than if you “click here to resolve issues.”

The best reason to shop locally, though, is often overlooked: It’s fun.

Small Business Saturday this year, for example, falls on the same day as Southampton Village’s ever-growing holiday kickoff, including the incomparable Parade of Lights and the tree lighting in Agawam Park. What better way to spend Saturday than to avoid the panicky crush of Black Friday and, instead, go out for the day and “sample the wares” in local shops — not just in Southampton but in Sag Harbor, Hampton Bays, Westhampton Beach, East Hampton, Montauk and everywhere in between. There are so many cool shops and festive experiences right around the corner.

If shopping has become a part of celebrating the holiday, so be it — at least enjoy the experience, and discover the kinds of unique local gifts that are truly special to give, and get, at the holidays. And make the discovery part of the experience: Get out and search, close to home, for the holiday spirit, along with holiday gifts.

You’re bound to find both — and, more important, you’ll share more than just goodwill with your neighbors.