Wait a minute — isn’t it a bit soon for all that? It’s not even Thanksgiving, and we’re supposed to be singing carols?

Yes, it’s also that other time of year: the Season of Complaints. An old friend of ours once said he was beating the Christmas rush: “I’m getting depressed early.”

We won’t descend that deep into cynicism, but at times it’s hard not to be laid low by advertisers mobilizing into assault mode, running guilt-trips or begging us to buy! Buy! Buy!

A new buzzword in big-time retailing is “Christmas Creep,” describing the early (getting earlier every year) blitz rolled out to remind us that time is wasting for us to hurry on down to be separated from our money. And it all can take a serious toll.

The American Psychological Association has found seven out of 10 people are stressed by a feeling of not having enough money, and more than half are often distraught about giving and getting gifts.

The commercialization of Christmas is in some ways very old news. Even the sight of shoppers knocking each other down to get into a store to buy electronics is now an American holiday ritual, with many people showing up just for the spectacle.

But something that’s being lost amid the tinsel is going out to shop at a big box instead of making the time to go to a local store. Also, more of us are not physically visiting any store at all, but choosing to shop while staring at a screen. According to Forbes, sales during last year’s “Cyber week, including the five days from Thanksgiving, were up 7.8% compared to last year … Cyber Monday e-commerce spending in the U.S. totaled $12.4 billion, up 9.6% year over year.”

If some of these figures remind us to get up and out to visit our local merchants, then all the pre-Christmas hoopla doesn’t offend us at all. Shopping locally helps everyone. Economic studies show that for every $100 spent at a locally owned business, close to $70 stays in the community. Local stores, shops, and restaurants pay the salaries of their employees, who in turn spend money on the North Fork.

In a world of big retailers and shopping by clicking, our small businesses fight to survive, to continue to stay open while providing us with goods and services along with the invaluable bonus of a welcoming connection to the place we live.

Shop local. Check out the Riverhead News-Review for ads and upcoming shopping special features for some ideas to keep our community prospering.

The post Editorial: Staying close to home appeared first on Riverhead News Review.

Small-business owners also serve as de facto community leaders. They sit on boards of local nonprofits and town-appointed boards. Some even run for public office. Above all, they get involved.

Their names, or those of their businesses, appear at community events, such as Fourth of July and Veterans Day parades. Business banners often decorate the fences at baseball games. 

These businesses’ names are often found on programs and pamphlets of charitable events throughout the year. When a local family faces a tragic circumstance, local business owners are often the first to open their hearts and, just as importantly, their wallets. These are hardworking people of vision who truly help the North Fork flourish.

But they need your support.

In the pages of the Riverhead News-Review and The Suffolk Times and on our websites, you’ll find dozens of ads from area businesses. They help make it possible for our editorial staff to bring you news and information day and night and to keep the community informed and engaged.

Even if you consider yourself the most dedicated of all newshounds, please take time to also notice what your friends and neighbors are offering through their print and online ads. What you’ll find is a wide range of products and services no big-box store or mall could ever match.

What you won’t find is midnight madness and fights over doorbuster sales. And that’s heartening in an age of hair-on-fire pressure to shop as if we’re engaged in a military campaign. We at the Times Review Media Group are challenging all our readers this holiday season to visit North Fork stores and shops and pick up at least one gift from a small-business owner.

It’s easy. The merchants can provide for everyone on your list, and for those who have all gifts covered, there are still stocking stuffers and that one extra gift for someone special.

The post Editorial: Shop local this holiday season appeared first on Riverhead News Review.