Editorial: Making your holiday shopping count for even more

By The Herald Editorial Board

While you contemplate the various filling choices for that Thanksgiving leftovers sandwich — turkey, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, with a side of pumpkin pie — consider the filling for your holiday shopping weekend sandwich; between slices of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, how about a satisfying and generous helping of Small Business Saturday?

Now in its 15th year, Small Business Saturday organizes local businesses, chambers of commerce and downtown organizations nationwide, encouraging shoppers to patronize the small independent shops and businesses in their hometowns, spreading the wealth of the season to help support those businesses and local economies.

Considering that American consumers are expected to lay out some $201 billion this shopping season — spending an average of $925 — here’s your chance to bolster your community and the local economy while your’re packing presents under the tree.

Patronizing local independent businesses keeps more of that money in the community; it can return up to three times as much money per dollar spent, compared to that spent at chain retailers, according to the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. For every $100 spent at an independent retailer, $45 is remains in the community in support of other businesses, compared to $14 for the large chain stores. For online retail, the return to the local economy barely registers in cash registers: about a $1.

And for restaurants, $100 spent at an independent restaurant returns about $65 to the local economy, compared to $34 for chain restaurants.

Where that money is spent locally adds up quickly in the support and the health of local communities. Various studies compiled by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance point to a range of advantages for dollars spent at local businesses:

Counties with larger shares of small businesses outperform their peers in terms of income growth, faster employment growth and lower poverty rates.

Entrepreneurship supports job creation, and with more jobs and higher wages, a cycle of new business start-ups is encouraged.

Independent businesses provide more tax revenue at a lower public cost. One analysis found that compared to about $7 in property taxes earned per acre for the average big-box store, an acre of mixed-use independent businesses generated an average of $287 in tax revenue.

Local businesses cultivate cohesion and well-being in communities, building social capital and civic engagement, encouraging cooperation on shared concerns and challenges and an increase in local pride.

An don’t assume small businesses have a small impact on the state’s economy. The U.S. Small Business Administration most recent report for the state counts more than 672,000 small businesses in Washington, employing more than 1.4 million of the state’s residents, 48 percent of all employees. And those small businesses have led a jump in business creation and employment since 2021, including nearly 81 percent of new jobs.

And while you’re supporting local businesses, don’t forget the nonprofit and other local organizations that stretch your holiday gift into year-round experiences. Some suggestions:

Imagine Children’s Museum: Reopened after a major renovation and expansion, the Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett offers a multi-floor warehouse of exhibits and playscapes that will occupy children, parents and grandparents for hours.

Among traditional favorites and new additions are the Air-Amazing Laboratory where kids can launch colorful swatches of cloth through transparent tubing into the air to be caught before hitting the floor; the WaterWorks tables’ experiments with tubing, pumps, whirlpools and floating balls; the Imagine Theatre with stage, curtains, costumes, lighting and sound effects; and a movie studio where kids can shoot their own stop-action animated short with their choice of dinosaurs, aliens, robots and more.

The museum offers a range of memberships and gift cards, including one specifically for grandparents, and also offers a number of special events and holiday-break camps throughout the year. And the museum’s store offers a selection of educational toys, games and more for kids 1 to 12 years of age.

Online go to www.imaginecm.org/.

Village Theatre: The region’s leading producer of musical theater and plays, Village Theatre stages productions in Everett at the Everett Performing Arts Center downtown and in Issaquah at the Francis J. Gaudette Theatre. The theater stages classic musicals and showcases new works in development.

Remaining in the 2024-25 season are Everett productions of “Legally Blonde,” Jan. 4-26 “Dial M for Murder,” March 1-23; “Jersey Boys,” May 3-25; and “The Color Purple: The Musical,” July 5-27. Village’s Kidstage Youth Theatre offers “Jesus Christ Superstar in Concert” through Dec. 1; and the High School version of “Mean Girls” in Issaquah.

The theater’s Black Friday deal, available through Monday, offers tickets at a 45 percent discount; and also offers gift certificates. Tickets, limited to 200, are now available for Village Theatre’s Annual Action and Gala, April 26, 2025, at Sparkman Cellars.

Go to villagetheatre.org/.

YMCA of Snohomish County: With six county locations in Everett, Marysville, Mill Creek, Monroe-Sky Valley, Stanwood-Camano and Mukilteo, the YMCA offers individual and family memberships to its swimming pools, gyms, courts, weight rooms and fitness facilities, as well as classes, programs, family events and two hours of free child care each day. Camps, youth development and leadership programs, sports clinics, dance and more also are available.

More recently, the YMCA purchased Camp Casey, a former U.S. Army fort on Whidbey Island, and will offer a schedule of overnight camps there beginning summer of 2025.

Go to www.ymca-snoco.org/ or call 425-374-5779.

Schack Art Center: Now marking its 50th year, the Schack Art Center in downtown Everett, mounts exhibitions by regional, national and international fine artists, hosts artists’ studio space and residences, and offers classes, workshops, arts education and youth outreach programs and features the only public glassblowing hot shop north of Seattle.

Its 2024 Holiday Exhibition’s Celebration of Nature, offers for sale a large selection of works by Puget Sound Group Northwest Artists through Jan. 4.

Classes for youths, teens and adults are offered in nearly every medium imaginable, including basketry; ceramics; wood carving; digital art; fiber arts; blown, fused and stained glass; jewelry; painting; photography; printmaking, sculpture and siversmithing.

Scholarships and tuition assistance are available.

Go to www.schack.org/.