CANTON — As holiday shopping continues with nationwide promotions for Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday (among others), the St. Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce is encouraging shoppers to support small businesses all season.

“We like to remind people that shopping local, shopping at small businesses is an investment in your community. Not everyone has the personality or the means to open their own business, but everyone has some option to shift a single dollar to a local business” noted Ben Dixon, chamber executive director.

An investment in small business provides opportunity for growth which makes it more likely for the business to hire more employees and pay them better, sponsor local events, fundraisers and teams, expand lines of products and services so that people have access locally, fill empty storefront and pay additional taxes to continue to benefit the services in the community, the chamber said.

During the pandemic, small businesses felt a hit as online shopping became even more popular. Initiatives co-hosted by the Chamber and other partners launched immediately to help businesses get online quickly and members have made it a priority over the last 18 months, recognizing the vulnerability of the local market and event-based sales, said the chamber.

“In April 2020, we launched www.ShopSTLC.com - a platform for our members to easily set up online shops. We partnered with ANCA and Clarkson to help businesses build websites with students. We were very focused on bringing solutions to businesses that would help immediately and help to build their businesses into the future” said Brooke Rouse, director of tourism at the chamber. “Shopping small can now happen online, and it gives people another option to support local.”

“It was overwhelming to see our community’s step up and understand the impact of shopping local last holiday season and we want to keep that spirit alive. It makes a difference. Literally every dollar makes a difference,” said Dixon.

“We are fortunate to have Chamber professionals across the world working on the same mission. It’s a profession driven by passion and the network is incredibly generous in sharing successes and samples, including this campaign for all of us to customize for our own communities,” Rouse said.

The Chamber has created posters and social media posts available to print and share.

Follow them on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SLCchamberNY or for more information go to www.SLCchamber.org .