Lethbridge shoppers are being encouraged to be educated consumers and go check out the many local businesses in the city this Black Friday.
CEO of the Lethbridge Chamber of Commerce Cindy Crane says the current situation is an example of why shopping locally is important; holiday sales are important to so many shops and businesses. Cranse says she is hearing from some owners that the foot traffic seems a little more lively, so she is encouraging holiday shoppers to light up these small business owners in town.
“For sure if you want to go online and parooz but if you go into their store the warm welcome people get it is just outstanding,” she says.
With the postal strike, Cranse says there are a lot of questions for business owners about what to do next because although there are alternative shipping methods they could cost up to quadruple businesses’ regular shipping price.
“So that gets passed on to either the business or the consumer, and so they are like do we get these gifts out or do we absorb the cost and then maybe not hire an extra staff, or do we lay off a staff?”
Crane explains with the strike there has been what they describe as a halt, in some cases, when it comes to accessing information for shoppers to find different ways to access information on local businesses or their offerings and the best way she says to do that is to see them in person.
Something else shoppers may be thinking about on what some call the biggest shopping day of the season, is the federal government’s holiday bill that will pause GST being charged on what the government is calling “everyday items.” Crane is encouraging shoppers to not hold off shopping to wait for this to go into effect in the middle of December.
“That may be ok for a few items but you are going to save more on sales now than maybe saving $5 closer to Christmas. It is only a pause on some things, it is five per cent which can be significant on a big bill,” Crane says.
