It seems last year the holiday shopping concept of “Small Business Saturday” – an answer to the increasingly ridiculous big-box retailer exploits of Black Friday – fully took hold across the country as well as here in the Chippewa Valley. The idea is basically this: Sure, go get your crazy deals and trample each other on Friday if you want, but when Saturday rolls around, think about getting out and supporting your local economy by shopping small. Seek out the mom-n-pops and support them too, keeping more of your dollars circulating in your own community. It’s of course a no-brainer sort of initiative, and it naturally relates to Volume One’s recurring Buy Local campaign we’ve been doing for a few years now – an effort that’s been supported by hundreds of local businesses and thousands of local shoppers. You can read more about the Buy Local initiative on page 22 and at VolumeOne.org/buylocal, and more about Small Business Saturday on page 42. We all often think of the holidays as a fun and festive time of year that’s all about family and friends – and it is. But it also happens to be a time of year most people spend quite a bit on gifts for those people (and themselves). We must realize the power of those dollars. They are investments in the sort of community we want to live in and an enormous opportunity to build something better. I know it can be hard. Nobody is saying you have to spend 100% of your gift budget at small local shops, that’s not realistic. But we can make an effort, and it’s in the effort where anything good starts. See you out there.