It was a great day for shopping throughout Golden on the first day of December as people came out to look for something special to purchase at local businesses.
The stores were packed, and at times many people lined the streets in a way I have not witnessed since moving to Golden.
When popping into stores you had to notice people were chatting, friends were meeting, and the bargains were being snapped up. It was a good day for local businesses which have been hit hard over recent times.
Sometimes it is easy to forget how important businesses like this are in this day and age. It is all too easy to pop online and order just about anything your heart could desire and have it delivered to your door.
The ease of shopping, and having less money, have forced many people to become more careful when going out to shop, even for the necessities.
Added to this is the relative ease in getting to larger shopping centres where a buck or two might be saved, even if gas prices are still outragous.
People strive just to get by, which is why seeing the masses take to the streets and shop at local stores was an important event.
These local businesses are the ones who have worked hard, in many cases, to keep their doors open. It is not an easy challenge to take on. But where would the town be without them?
All we have to do is look at the winter months in this town.
There are times when getting out of the area is a challenge that is not worth the risk, or just cannot happen. Weather can slow people down and make it nearly impossible to get through the mountains.
During those times people, both locals and others coming through town, can fill up stores. But that is no way to run a business. Another benefit for shopping local is that the money spent will continue to be rotated around the town rather than leaving the area never to be seen again.
If support like we saw on the day of the Santa Claus Parade could be seen on other days then things would be brighter all around town.
Things will be brighter for the town as a whole. A stronger business community can only make things better, both now and in the long run.
In a perfect world everything required would be in the area at the price everyone could afford to pay.
However, perfect worlds are more the stories of fantasy films. We all know that some money will leave the area for shopping across the border with our Alberta friends to the east, but that doesn’t mean all of it has to go that way. The bargains can be found locally and hopefully local businesses can work together for more events, like they just had, which will encourage more people to have a fun day of shopping in Golden.
With a willingness to shop local and businesses working together, the goal would be to have more days where shops are full because that helps give strength to the backbone of any town.
