Nov. 29, 2020

If all continues to go as it seems to be going, this time next year there likely will be few signs of COVID-19.

We hopefully will no longer see spaced-out markers in stores, fewer tables in restaurants or — certainly can’t leave this out — face masks on our fellow citizens.

But if we’re not mindful, long after the case count comes down, there will still be signs in our community of COVID-19: They will take the form of empty storefronts, missing restaurants and shuttered hotels.

This weekend and those that will follow this year always represent a critical time for business owners and their employees, but I can’t overstate how important your support is this year.

“If I can keep my staff paid and the doors open until this is over, that’s a win to me,” said Tami Brown, co-owner of The Spice & Tea Exchange on Phillips Avenue. It’s her second holiday season in business.

On the plus side, shoppers started looking for gifts earlier this year, she said. On the downside, even simple changes like fewer office gift exchanges have caused a noticeable drop.

“We’re just cautiously optimistic that Sioux Falls will be great supporters of local business. They have been since we opened, but we understand it’s a different time,” Brown told me when I reported a story that ran last week looking at the state of retail approaching the holiday season.

This year has been incredibly uneven in the way it has treated businesses. Some retailers that sell merchandise that can be used or consumed at home or outdoors are having good, or even very good, years. Others I’ve talked to are relieved to be at or near a typical year. Others are down but generally not at a critical point.

But no one knows what the next few weeks will bring. Past years’ performance is based on special events and promotions designed to draw big crowds into the stores.

Not this year. Instead, many retailers, such as Zandbroz Variety, are deliberately limiting the number of shoppers in the store.

While owner Jeff Danz typically embraces the crowd-inducing approach of branding the Saturday after Thanksgiving as “Small Business Saturday,” this year it was more of a frustration. Because it can’t be “all about bringing traffic and Small Business Saturday,” he said.

“It’s got to be Small Business Season. Every time you talk about what used to be Small Business Saturday, you need to use that opportunity to say we need to show small businesses love all holiday season. We can’t fill our stores with capacity crowds and offer safe shopping.”

It’s not that people are reluctant to spend, added Sheryl Nelson, owner of Kidtopia. It’s that many are reluctant to go out.

“I’m hoping for the best. But the way COVID numbers are rising, it’s just hard to know,” she said. “It’s just such a strange year. It’s so hard to know.”

If you have a special request, just ask, many local retailers told me.

“And we’ll do what we can to accommodate,” Nelson said. “We’re willing to do whatever – that’s what’s good about a local business.”

I think those of us on the consumer side need to be equally willing to think differently and do more than we typically would for the benefit of these small-business owners and their employees.

And it’s definitely not just local stores that need our support as we end one year and enter another.

For many restaurants and their employees, 2020 has been filled with uncertainty and stress.

For hotels — many of which are owned locally — it has been even worse.

So here’s my brief list of – though I hate the cliche – somewhat “outside the box” thinking that can help do a bit more for local businesses to end the year.

Be a Secret Santa

Whether it’s organized or not — and if your friend group already is doing this, be the one to suggest all gifts be from local businesses — consider a gift exchange. P.S. For many reasons, I recommend not doing the online ones that suggest you’ll receive way more gifts than you give.

Instead, go lower tech, keep it local and coordinate a gift exchange drop at your friends’ or co-workers’ doors. Or even do only local gift cards, and drop them in the mail.

Of course, “Secret Santa-style” giving doesn’t need to involve receiving anything. Think of all the people you know who have helped you this year, or any year, who maybe could use a reminder someone appreciates what they do or an unexpected brightening of their day.

This can take so many forms. Offer to send a family-size meal from a local restaurant to someone who could use the break. Buy an extra dessert with your own meal, and take it to a neighbor. Want to really stun someone? Send them on a one-night stay at one of our local hotels — you know my bias is downtown, but there are great choices citywide.

Go when others don’t

If you’d like to support a local business but are concerned about being around too many people when you venture out, try to go when most people don’t.

Have some vacation time to use up? Take off a random day midweek, and go holiday shopping.

Not sure about dining in a restaurant? Do a midafternoon lunch.

Same with hotels. Got a work project that needs your undivided attention? You might be surprised how little it costs to book a hotel room for a day. Or, with the holiday break coming up, what about a midweek staycation to give your family a change of scenery?

Not only will you avoid crowds, but also you’ll give a bump in business when many wouldn’t experience one.

Book a space

I think there still are ways to safely gather and see family and friends this holiday season if you’re willing to approach it differently.

There are spaces available all over – just think bigger than you typically would need. I’ve heard of families booking all or part of hotel meeting rooms or ballrooms for their holiday gatherings.

Many restaurants have event rooms they can offer even for small groups – especially with fewer holiday parties.

There even are spaces inside golf course clubhouses that can space out groups.

Shop virtually

One of my favorite days of the year is our 605 Made Holiday Market, when we turn a downtown parking garage into a big pop-up shop of locally made merchandise.

But in reviewing the safety measures we would need to take to feel compliant with best practices this year, we couldn’t find a way to make that model work.

Instead, we’re hosting three lives sales on Facebook for the next three Fridays starting at noon. Click here to sign up for the event, or watch live here. You’ll be able to easily purchase handmade merchandise from two dozen area makers.

With very few opportunities to sell at events and diminished crowds when they do, this has been an especially difficult year for artists. Please sign up, and join us for the next three Fridays.

Reduce risk

You know what else is really challenging and worrisome to many small-business owners I’ve talked to? When their staff become sick or exposed.

In some cases, the business staying open depends on just a handful of people. If they can’t work, the business can’t function.

So, again, anything more we as a community can do to reduce the level of illness is going to help in so many ways.

“Business owners in general don’t want any of this to be political,” said Nathan Sanderson, executive director of the South Dakota Retailers Association.

“They want people to feel good. They want them to feel safe. They want them to have a great time while they’re there, and they will do whatever it takes to make them feel comfortable.”

One last thing: Tip generously. Workers who depend on tips have been especially hit hard this year.

I’m looking toward 2021 with optimism, but my least favorite thing about any January is that we cover more business closures than at any other time of year.

Don’t let your favorite local businesses be among them. Help them finish 2020 strong so they can return next year and share in the recovery I continue to believe is coming. It’s one clear way you can help our community beat COVID-19: Buy local in 2020 and beyond.

Retailers adjust special offers, inventory for critical holiday season