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Show Shop at home and give you, your town present A well-worn bit of advice on "How to Ruin Your Town" offers the following gem: "-Buy everything you can out of town or in a discount catalog. These firms are the first to come through with the donations and service to thecommunity." That's A sound piece of advice for those hoping to undermine the economic well-being of their community. And it is never more appropriate than at this time of year. For retail businesses, the Christmas season provides the highest sales volume of the year. That's because we are buying more this month than we buy at any other time. As a result, there is a great deal of competition for all that money floating around at Christmastime, and that's reflected in increased advertising on all levels. Naturally the largest amounts of advertising comes from the larger stores -- those with national advertising budgets. The advertising is designed to draw shoppers from everywhere -- and it work.", to the detriment of local businesses and your local community. If we are interested in supporting our communities, we must be interested in seeing that the dollars we spend go back into those communities. That means we should shop at the stores located closest to home. There are a lot of other good reasons for doing business with people you know and who have the same stake in the community as you do. The so-called lower prices offered by the discount stores located at the out-of-town malls and shopping centers don't take into account driving time and expense. ex-pense. And spending retail dollars iri another town does nothing to improve the tax base of your own community - which receives a portion of the sales tax It h however, go to support the mass transit system tL?' 1 residents of that community get to use. l,ldiine Of course, it's up to local merchants to offer petitive prices and the type of service that justifies W i patronage. "csiocal But a close examination will show that most li businesses are competitive. wal In addition, they are convenient, they are operated bv friends and neighbors who have an interest in keeDinp your business, and who are responsive to your needs they have better, more personal service and they have a good selection of merchandise. When buying gifts and goods this holiday season vou can give yourselves and your community a Christmas gift by shopping at home. Jl |