It’s already been a busy week for everyone. Yesterday was Thanksgiving, and today is Black Friday, arguably the largest shopping day of the Christmas season. Of course, most of the Black Friday shopping actually starts on Thursday, meaning if you’re reading this now as a reminder it might be too late.

Luckily, there’s still plenty of shopping days left until Christmas, starting with Small Business Saturday tomorrow. Started in 2010, Small Business Saturday serves as a reminder that our local stores deserve a chance to earn our business during the Christmas shopping season too.

We’ve always tried to beat the proverbial “shop locally” drum, but this time of the year we always try to say it a little more.

This Saturday and frankly any time before Christmas, we should all try to shop in Selma and Dallas County before making the drive to Montgomery or Birmingham. The tax dollars spent in our county contribute immensely to the improvement of our community.

We’ve all got complaints or recommendations about things that could be better in Selma, but money drives all. Shopping locally is a great way to support our local businesses while also showing support for Selma’s future. It also helps make a real difference.

Plus, our local stores are likely to have unique, homemade gifts that other big box retailers may not have.

Small Business Saturday is a way to highlight smaller companies all around the country. We encourage everyone in Selma to spend some time shopping Saturday, but also to keep local businesses in mind the rest of December as well.