Black Friday was a dark day this year. With sales down 11 percent by some estimates, holiday cheer turned to holiday fear. So it was when Robert Reich took to Facebook and laid down some unconventional wisdom about the lagging sales.
“The biggest losers from slack holiday sales are small businesses—especially independent ‘mom and pop’ operations—as giant big-box retailers and online sales take a growing portion,” the noted economist wrote. “That’s bad for our communities, and further reduces the countervailing power of small businesses against giant corporations.” It gets pretty political from there, so—in the interest of keeping this gift guide non-partisan—we will stick with his primary point: Small businesses need a lift.
This sentiment falls in line with Seattle
Weekly’s Holiday Gift Guides. We believe in supporting local business, but not just because it’s better for the community. The fact is that it’s good for the gifter too.
When you spend your hard-earned money on local shops and makers this season, you are really doubling your gifting power, goosing your goodwill. Yes, you are buying a delicious jar of coral pink plum jam for Aunt Sandy, but you are also assuring greater cheer for the Ayako Family, who hand-jarred that jam. Yes, your son will likely never stop wearing the superhero cape and mask you get him, but your purchase will also assure that the folks at World of Whimm will keep kids in capes for years to come. And yes, your niece will love that chunky knit snood, but local designer Suk Chai will also love the money you spent on it and will use it to fuel a spring line. Seattle will glow merry with your largesse, and you will be deemed twice as nice.
This double-gifting effect is especially prevalent in the world of art—to which we have devoted an entire section of Gift Picks this week, as well as our Greatest Gift. Investing in art is not about scoring some early work by a future star that will someday be worth millions; it’s about investing in that artist so he or she can have a future. When you give the gift of art, you’re giving an artist a morale boost and providing him or her with funds to keep going. Your sister or brother or father or mother will receive a dazzling, thought-provoking original work to hang on the wall. When guests ask where it came from, you will be mentioned, as will the artist, and maybe some update on what the artist is doing now. Guests will be impressed; perhaps they will become customers—and the gift will keep giving and giving and giving.
Mark Baumgarten
Editor-in-Chief
