Support Your Local Businesses During the Holidays

I am sure many of you have noticed the changes that have happened in the Montrose Shopping Park in the past few years. Businesses are turning over, retail shops are leaving and not being replaced and storefronts are sitting vacant. I receive phone calls all the time about what is happening in Montrose, why businesses are leaving, why there are so many different establishments offering the same type of business and why we don’t have more diversity. Although this can be disheartening at times, there is something you can do about it! Shop Local First! When you come to Montrose to shop you are doing so much more than picking up the items you want and need. You are helping to sustain our area and our local economy. That is why we encourage you to “shop local first.” When you shop local the money spent at local businesses is reinvested in our community creating diversity and helping the community maintain and create its unique appeal.

Here are just a few reasons why you should shop local first. Your dollars spent in locally owned businesses have three times the impact on your community. When shopping locally, you simultaneously create jobs, fund more city services through sales tax, invest in neighborhood improvement and promote community development. Our businesses are an integral part of the distinctive character of Montrose and what makes us unique. Also, since people who live in this community own local businesses it is less likely that they will leave; they are more invested in the community’s future. Local ownership means that important decisions are made locally by people who live in the community and who will feel the impacts of their decisions.

Local stores help to sustain vibrant, compact, walkable town centers, which in turn are essential to reducing sprawl, automobile use, habitat loss, and air and water pollution. Local stores value you more. Evidence from numerous surveys show people receive better customer care and service locally. Local businesses survive by their reputation and repeat business. This means you get a higher standard of service and people with a better understanding of the products they are selling who take more time to get to know you. A marketplace of tens of thousands of small businesses is the best way to ensure innovation and low prices over the long-term. Small local businesses are the largest employer nationally and, in our community, provide the most jobs to residents and small business owners give, on average, 250% more support to local community groups than larger businesses. This contribution gives more support to our local community.

Lastly, entrepreneurs and skilled workers are more likely to invest and settle in communities that preserve their one-of-a-kind businesses and distinctive character. Local Montrose businesses need you. They need you to support them and that support is vital to the sustainability of this area. So please remember to shop local for the holidays. There are many great places to get that one-of-a-kind gift that will be remembered for years to come.

Montrose-Verdugo City Chamber of Commerce: Your source for all things local! Our mission is to actively support and enrich the community, vitality and pride of Montrose, to help preserve the historic district and small town atmosphere, to promote economic stability and positive, productive relationships within Montrose and the surrounding communities.

Upcoming Events

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 8.

Montrose Christmas Parade is Saturday, Dec. 3 at 6 p.m. in the December 3rd, 6pm, Montrose Shopping Park, 2200, 2300, & 2400 blocks of Honolulu Avenue.

December business mixer is on Wednesday, Dec. 7 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Boulevard 34, located at 3427 Ocean View Blvd. in Glendale.

  melinda clarke