This holiday season, your local shops and restaurants need your support more than ever.
Across New Jersey, the small businesses and family-owned eateries that give our towns their charm and character are struggling in ways many people don’t see. Rising food costs, higher wages, increasing credit card fees, rent spikes, and the constant pull of online shopping and delivery apps have created a financial storm that many cannot weather alone.
Behind every retail counter and every restaurant kitchen, there’s a family, a dream, and a neighbor working tirelessly to serve their community. But right now, both the storefronts and dining rooms are under tremendous pressure. Restaurants, in particular, are being squeezed by the soaring cost of ingredients, unpredictable foot traffic, and third-party delivery services that take huge percentages of each order.
And yet, even while fighting to stay afloat, small businesses and restaurants are still the first ones asked to donate gift cards, sponsor school events, provide food for fundraisers, or help out with community causes. They say yes because they care, because the community is their home.
But the reality is painful: many local shops and restaurants are drowning financially. The margins are thinner than ever. For some, this holiday season may determine whether they can remain open.
You have the power to change that.
Every time you shop local instead of online…
Every time you choose a neighborhood restaurant over a chain…
Every time you order directly from the restaurant instead of using an app…
…you’re helping a family make payroll, keep their lights on, and continue giving back to the very community they love.
Amazon won’t sponsor your child’s soccer team. Big box stores won’t donate trays of food to your school fundraiser. Delivery apps won’t support your neighborhood charity drive. But your local restaurants and stores do…every single day.
This holiday season, let’s come together. Let’s shop and dine local. Let’s support the businesses that support us.
With your help, we can keep our communities strong, vibrant, and full of the local flavor and heart that make New Jersey truly special.
Antonietta LaVecchia has been a small business advocate for over two decades and has made it a mission to get communities to shop small and support local.
