It is finally official.

News that we have known for some time finally came out of Washington that the country’s economy is indeed in a recession.

Examples of the recession are government bailouts being doled out at will, credit virtually stopped and our retail industry suffering.

While we have not hit the “depression” stage yet, and hopefully that “yet” will never happen, it is apparent that many American families are undergoing some difficult economic conditions.

And on top of all that, there is Christmas – a time when Americans reach into their pockets and pull our money that they don’t really have to extend a bit of happiness to others.

We can think of no better reason right now to shop local first. By “local” we mean the Carthage business owners. Local retail business seem to suffer the most during a recession because everyone flocks to the major department stores for their shopping needs.

But without our local retail business, our wonderful community would not thrive. Our store fronts would be vacant, and our sales tax revenue would keep decreasing.

Our retail business give to the community in so many ways; it is only right to give back to them by giving them our business. We need to shop local first to keep money in Carthage.

A city without a thriving retail base is a dying community. Carthage is anything but dying, but we still need to continue to support our businesses.
T

his holiday season, make it a point to shop local first. Let’s send a monetary message to our businesses that we appreciate them and we want them to stay.

We can whip this recession, and the first way to start to adopt that phrase that we all know – “Shop Local First.”
CARTHAGE PRESS