With the holiday shopping season set to officially begin sometime between now and the time you mop-up the last of your turkey gravy on Thursday night, the focus of media attention world-wide will be on the throngs of half-frozen bargain hunters camped out all night at the big box stores, and the frenzied free-for-all that follows when the doors to the retail behemoths are either opened or beaten down.
Here in Whitefish, the scene will be a bit different. Early morning shoppers will first hit Coffee Traders, the Buffalo Cafe or Swift Creek for a leisurely brunch, then take their time browsing the shops, stores and galleries, pausing occasionally to visit with friends on the street, catching up on what happened this summer and the prospects for another spectacular Whitefish winter.
The rest of the country celebrates “Small Business Saturday” this week – another of those so-called “Hallmark Holidays,” this one designed with commerce in mind. On this one day each year, American Express and all its corporate partners encourage folks like you and me to get out and support the small businessmen (and women) of our community. And that’s a laudable goal.
But when you really stop to think of it, every day is Small Business Saturday here in Whitefish, and, for that matter, in most of Montana. And that’s because, with a couple of notable exceptions, every business in the city of Whitefish is technically a small business.
That begs the question: “Just what, exactly, is a ‘small’ business?”
Like just about everything else these days, that depends on who you talk to. A quick Google search reveals that in Australia, a business is considered “small” if it has 15 employees or less. In the European Union, the number’s a bit bigger – if you have 50 workers or less, you qualify as a small business.
Here in the good ol’ USA – where bigger is always better – the U.S. Small Business Administration considers your business to be “small” as long as you don’t have more than 500 employees on staff. By contrast, here in Whitefish we’ve got about 800 active businesses, and you can count the number of companies with 250 employees on one hand. I’d estimate that 85 percent of our businesses have less than 25 folks on the payroll, and a big chuck of those have less than 10.
So certainly support our “small” businesses this Saturday, but make sure you do it all year ‘round.
Thanks, Oktoberfesters!
There’s much to be grateful for this time of year – for our friends, families, our community and the folks who make Whitefish such a wonderful place to call home. We at the Chamber want to take just a minute to thank everyone who attended, volunteered at and/or sponsored this year’s Great Northwest Oktoberfest, and not just for coming out and having a good time.
This year, the Chamber – and its Oktoberfest volunteers – raised nearly $3,000 for a handful of Flathead Valley charities, including the North Valley Food Bank, Habitat for Humanity and the Animal Shelter. All of the “tips” earned each night at the Oktoberfest bar were donated to one of the many worthy causes that abound here in Whitefish and the surrounding area. In all, more than 25 percent of the net proceeds from the two-week event went to benefit local charities.
In addition, Oktoberfest attendees turned out in record numbers on the opening evening of the event, and brought with them more than 1,500 cans of food that went directly to the North Valley Food Bank, providing much-needed help for local families who need a hand at the holidays.
On behalf of the chamber staff and board of directors – thank you, Whitefish! And Prost!