The presents have all been unwrapped, the tree has been taken down and put away, and all the turkey has been eaten.
Now that Christmas is over, shops can relax a little bit and reflect on what the season was like for them.
One thing vendors are noticing is people seem to be making an effort to shop locally, which is important when living in a small village like Nakusp.
“I think the community realizes that if they don’t shop local, there’s not going to be any local stores to shop at, so they try to support the locals when they can,” said Vall Hill, co-owner of Bon Marche.
Ron Balske of Touch of Fashion is noticing the trend as well.
“There are a number of people that are making a point of saying they’d like to support local, which is great,” he said. “It certainly makes everything go around here locally for sure.”
While many people try to shop locally as much as they can, sometimes, it’s just not possible. There are some things which are hard to come by in a smaller village. A wide selection of clothing is one example.
“Our business, before we took over from my parents, used to have children’s wear, and the sales went way down once the big box stores got closer to Nakusp,” said Hill.
Because smaller businesses can’t order larger quantities of clothing, the cost of the clothing becomes more expensive, which can be a turn off for customers who are looking for the best value for their dollar.
It’s not just clothes either. Val Scott, of the Nakusp General Store has noticed people will go to larger cities in search of a better deal on bigger items as well.
“Sometimes people think they’re paying more here, so they won’t pay that price, they’ll go out of town, and they might get it cheaper out of town.”
Scott says when it comes down to it, shopping locally is very important for a community.
“I think it’s important for people to shop local, because if they don’t shop local, the businesses couldn’t afford to stay open, and then we couldn’t get anything here, we would have to go out of town for everything.”