We all know that many local businesses are facing challenges they may not survive. Some have already been lost. Others are teetering, doing everything they can to stay open until there’s a post-vaccine version of normal.

Some problems in the community are so complicated it’s hard to know where to start and how to help. This isn’t one of them. It’s pretty straightforward. You can help by patronizing local businesses, and it will help a lot.

This isn’t just a call to shop local for Christmas. It’s going to take a while for all of us to recover. Apartment dwellers aren’t the only ones behind on rent. Lots of businesses have some catching up to do, along with staff to rehire, delayed plans and overdue bills.

It seems more critical right now and it is, but healthy places support their own business communities, particularly in tough times, but also day in, day out, over the long haul.

It’s hard enough to run a small business when times are good, and we’ve lost way too many of them over the years. As the road to Olympia got better and the extra spending power of second incomes became the norm it got easier to shop out of town and now, with online shopping, it’s even easier to spend the money you earn here somewhere else.

Increasingly, when people need something, they go straight to Amazon. This is an appeal to think local first and make it a habit. At least give local businesses a shot at your trade, now and in the future. We’re not just talking about the gift shop at Christmas time. It means accountants, hospitals, mechanics and book sellers. When businesses can count on their community it gives them incentive, confidence and means to invest and grow here.

They count on us the way we count on them. Can you count on an online retailer in any important way, like you can the shop on the corner? Is get_it_a_little_cheaper.com ponying up to support a local festival or help pay for the high school band trip?

Support what you want to sustain. If that’s a healthy community with people who have jobs so they can spend money with whatever business puts bread on your own table, support local business. We need to be able to count on each other. Think local first.

– The Daily World