To the Editor:

Around town, you may be noticing the bright green signs in some local shops saying “We Are Guilderlocal!” This is not just another shop-local campaign.

This is us, as a business and community organization, trying to rally everyone to use your local vendors and help build us up as a community.

Times have been tough on local businesses the last few years and we want to make it a point to draw attention to the shops and businesses that you may pass by every day on your way to work, the doctor, or right down the road that you may never even have set foot in before.

We know that everyone says it is important to support small businesses, but does the average person truly do so?  And if not, why not?

I know many of us now do a lot of shopping online, but that is not supporting our own neighbors and it actually hurts small businesses. Are local businesses and their owners not the first to support a sports team, not-for-profit, or organization when they come knocking on the door for a sponsorship or donation?

Are they not the first to support a family in need in the community? They are constantly bombarded with these requests on a daily basis.

So why do we not support them more often and in turn, get something out of it by just using a service locally or getting an item made or sold locally? 

These businesses are run by people right here in our community. They do back-breaking work over long hours to just break even more often than not.

Many of them will tell you that owning a small businesses and running one is a lifestyle, and very rarely the means to get rich. In fact, a lot of these owners at times will forgo paying themselves in order to be able to pay employees or bills first if they are having a tough week or month. Many times, any kind of money made will go right back into their business. 

I am challenging all of us this year and for the entire year of 2015 to support our local businesses and organizations. Take our challenge of visiting three local places from now until Dec. 31, and not only that, but, when you go into a local place, introduce yourself and ask the person at the counter his or her name also.

You will be surprised at how quickly a community will start to feel like an actual community once we start to strike up little conversations.  We are all so bombarded with the busyness of our lives, very rarely do we look up and just talk to a person anymore.

This is our plea to you to now take a stance and support your own community by supporting the businesses that help support us and other organizations during the year. Small Business Saturday is Nov. 29, but let’s make Small Business Day all year round in 2015. Because we are Guilderlocal.

Erika Gauthier, president
Guilderland Chamber of Commerce