The message this year from Calgary’s BIAs and the City of Calgary is you don’t have to go online, and deal with the possibility of not getting your presents before Christmas because of the ongoing postal strike.

With some 95 per cent of Calgary’s businesses being small businesses, many of them retailers with plenty of stock for the holiday, it’s better and easier to shop local, they say.

Mayor Jyoti Gondek said it also means ensuring that money stays in Calgary, and employs Calgarians this holiday season.

“I’ve talked to a few people who are avid online shoppers, and they’re incredibly worried about the postal strike. I would say if you want to make sure that your gift giving is going to be spectacular this year, shop local,” she said.

“You can come into these shops, you can choose from the many, many different things they have here. Again, you’re actually supporting your neighbours in Calgary who are running these small businesses.”

Adding to that, Graeme Maitland, Chair of the Kensington Business Improvement Area, shopping locally means getting the kind of personalized service that you can’t find from an online store.

“Anyone can go to a big box store or off Amazon, but you don’t get that personality. You know, Jeff Bezos isn’t going to help you find a book,” Maitland said.

“It’s not just supporting the businesses. It’s also good for all the consumers. You want to come here, you’re going to get unique bespoke items and create some memories.”

That personal experience was something their local book store has in spades, said Laurel Dzuiba, manger of Pages in Kensington.

“We just love being able to connect people who love writing with people who love reading,” she said.

“A lot of the people that work here, in fact, have got PhDs in English. They have relationships with authors because they were their teachers. We’re doing events still going into Christmas season, which is a little crazy, but we like being that stepping stone for people who are trying to express themselves and find success in that creative field.”

GST takes a holiday, with pros for consumers

With the federal government proposing a holiday on the GST from Dec. 14, through to Feb. 15, local businesses are also saying there is an opportunity for Christmas shoppers to save a few dollars locally.

Among the items under the proposed tax holiday included printed books—something that Dzuiba said might make the difference for customers.

“I hope that little amount will make the difference for somebody who’s been half on the fence about getting a book, or maybe concerned about Christmas spending. If that helps them just spend a little bit more, then that’s great,” she said.

She said that for her store, their made-in-Canada point of sale solution will make it easy to delineate which items would be eligible for a tax break or not.

There has been some concern by businesses in the BIA about the complexity of the proposed tax holiday, Maitland said.

“I definitely have heard a couple of concerns about just getting the systems, and I know that’s been a big concern for businesses, not just in Kensington, but around the country,” he said.

“But overall, there generally seems to be support for it, and hopefully it will draw more business in. I think it would be great if we could get the GST down a bit more, or even lower. But maybe that’s just me being an Albertan, not having a PST here.”

Mayor Gondek said that she was supportive of the tax holiday, saying that anything government could do to support small businesses in Calgary was welcome.

“Small businesses are always very grateful when we’re able to do anything through any of our orders of government that allow people to come into their shops and really boost their business. So, I think this is a benefit to small businesses in Calgary,” she said.

Among the ways that the City of Calgary is supporting shopping locally this season is through a parking credit contest through Calgary Parking’s My Parking App, with six possible winners getting $150 in parking credit.

For more information on the Support Local campaign, see calgary.ca/supportlocal.