Residents reminded to ‘Shop Local’ this holiday season
17 Nov 2023
Downtown, Small Business
Felicia Frazar The Seguin Gazette
As the holidays approach and people start writing out their gift giving lists, local businesses ask them to keep one thing in mind — “Shop Local, Shop Seguin.”
Each year, the Seguin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the Seguin Area Chamber of Commerce join forces with the Downtown Business Alliance, Seguin Economic Development and Seguin Main Street to promote the Shop Local initiative.
The groups along with small business leaders gathered in Central Park on Wednesday to celebrate the upcoming holiday gift-giving season and to remind the community to support local shops.
“Seguin is our home and we want to make sure that we do everything we can to buy here in Seguin so that the taxes stay in Seguin,” Seguin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce member Mary Ann Smith said. “We’re starting with the Thanksgiving holidays and Christmas. This time of the year is the gift-giving season. I think everybody thinks ‘what am I going to do?’ but many people already started purchasing their gifts or thinking about it.”
Shopping local isn’t just limited to boutiques and retail shops, Smith said.
“Shop local means go buy your food here, go visit some of the beautiful restaurants in town, go out and eat the good food. We have a lot of new small businesses who need our support,” she said. “We can buy cars, we have new dealers in town. Everything that you are looking for is around here, you just need to look a little bit.”
Supporting local businesses boosts the economy in a number of ways and it is reciprocated in kind, Seguin Area Chamber of Commerce President Chester Jenke said.
“When you go to a Little League game, you always see the small businesses who are sponsoring those teams on the back of their jerseys,” he said. “Those small businesses are always the ones who help support local nonprofits throughout town. When you go to them for donation for a silent auction item, they almost always tell you yes and get you something.”
That reach expands to families in small towns who own or work for a small businesses, keeping their livelihood thriving, Smith said.
It also funnels back to the city and school districts through the taxes collected, Smith said.
“Everything we buy in Seguin and all of the taxes that are spent here will stay in the community,” she said. “We all benefit. The taxes we collect are for our streets, for our schools, for our teachers, our hospital, everything we need here in Seguin and Guadalupe County. We encourage everyone to spend whatever dollars you want to spend in other towns to do it here.”
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