HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — These are challenging times. The most effective thing we can do to fight COVID-19 is simple: Stay home. Unfortunately, there is a downside to staying home – it's catastrophic for our local businesses.
Livelihoods are at stake. Can you imagine our community without incredible restaurants, coffee shops, breweries, barbers, boutiques, nail salons, and hardware stores? We can't either, and we don't want to.
The chamber is trying to make it easy to support local businesses with a new website: Get Your Gift On.
Although it's important to support local businesses during the holidays, Chamber Vice President of Marketing and Communications Claire Aiello reminds us that it is equally important to support local businesses throughout the year, "A lot of people shop online right now and they just go to the big vendor sites that we know about and they click, click, click and have it delivered to the door. I know we all do it but it's really important to remember your local stores. We want them to be here all year long. We can't just shop local [during the] holiday season, we need to shop local 365 days a year."
"Buy gift cards for birthday presents, anniversaries, and for your own enjoyment. Use them now for curbside and takeout, or save them for after this is over at your favorite restaurant, store, or service establishment. Buy extras to give away to restaurants, grocery, delivery and medical workers, and anyone else who is keeping our economy going. Order takeout, curbside pickup, alcoholic drinks, or delivery from your favorite spots. Support your favorite service professionals by donating to a staff support fund.
Local businesses are the heartbeat of our community, and they need us. Let's make sure our local business owners and their employees know we care and can survive this crisis.
Stay well and stay home. Remember, we're all in this together... six feet apart.