Page 34 - Flathead Beacon // 11.23.16

TRANSACTIONS 35 BUSINESS IS PERSONAL 36 Business
Boosting the Economy Through Teamwork
Flathead chambers of commerce promote collaborative e orts for this year’s Small Business Saturday on Nov. 26
CBY MOLLY PRIDDY OF THE BEACON
OLLABORATION IS THE NEW COMPETITION, at least when it comes to small businesses in the Flathead Valley surviving and thriving.
That’s the message from the local chambers of com- merce as businesses, residents, and visitors prepare for the economic onslaught of the holiday season.
First there’s Black Friday, when people camp out- side box stores around the country in order to get the best deals. Then, the day after, there’s the relatively new Small Business Saturday, born during the height of the recession in 2010 as a push to keep supporting local shopkeepers during a brutal economy.
Since then, the event has only grown in popularity, Kate Lu in, communication and marketing specialist with the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce, said. This year, Small Business Saturday is on Nov. 26.
“What was awesome this year, especially on our side, was the event has sort of taken o on its own, and it’s great,” Lu in said. “Businesses were calling in Septem- ber to see if we were doing it again this year.”
The idea of promoting all for the betterment of each business has caught on, and the valley’s chambers of commerce are working together to get out the word and host promotional activities.
“If one of our towns doesn’t succeed, we all don’t suc- ceed. If one of them is struggling really hard, we’re all struggling really hard,” Lu in said. “Why promote just yourself, when you can make the whole valley great and thrive?”
This year’s Small Business Saturday will have some of the same aspects — many of the participating businesses hold special sales that day, for instance — but there are some new activities this year.
In Kalispell, White sh, Columbia Falls, Bigfork, and Lakeside-Somers, the chambers of commerce will be running a social media contest for shoppers. Those who wish to participate should post a picture of themselves shopping on Small Business Saturday to Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter with the hashtags #shopsmall- athead and #(whichever town they’re in). For exam- ple, a shopper in Kalispell would post the picture with
Women look for a vest pattern at Camas Creek Yarn in downtown Kalispell. BEACON FILE PHOTO
#shopsmall athead and #kalispell.
Adding those hashtags automatically enters the shop-
per in a contest to win a gift card from each of the cham- bers, with each town having their own prize. In White- sh, Sarah Stewart of the chamber said Park Side Credit Union has donated the prize, a $50 cash gift card.
The winners will be selected from the hashtags, Stew- art said, and “creativity might count.”
“We probably have about 40 businesses in White sh that are participating,” Stewart said last week. “It just kind of seems to grow every year.”
Columbia Falls is also participating, and chamber President Stacey Schnebel said she hopes people will shop
in their local communities, including branching out to other small businesses in the valley, not just in their town. “We’re hoping that people will be looking to shop close to home rst, of course,” Schnebel said. “We have growing amenities in Columbia Falls — not to forget our seasonal-operating businesses do sell gift certi cates.” Working with the other chambers has buoyed the event in Columbia Falls, Schnebel said, because it unites
the town’s businesses with others in the valley.
“It’s a really awesome collaboration between all the chambers,” Schnebel said. “It’s getting less competitive and more collaborative, which I think is really mirroring
how people spend their dollars here.”
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NOVEMBER 23, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM
Have a Happy & Safe Thanksgiving!