Shop Small, Love Local
As Small Business Saturday and Buy Local Month get closer, the City and leaders from community groups throughout Albuquerque came together to highlight holiday shopping events taking place all over town. Albuquerque is home to over 40,000 small businesses that enrich the city and are a key part of the local economy. The holiday season is an important time for many businesses and serves as a great reminder to everyone to spend money locally and support our small business economy.
A list of holiday shopping events and other community activities can be found on the City's Holiday Buy Local Events webpage.
“The ripple effect shopping small and shopping local has on our community cannot be understated,” said Economic Development Director Max Gruner. “Our hope is that we can help encourage folks to look local first, because you can find the perfect gift – no matter the time of year – from a small business right here in our town.”
“There are so many opportunities this season to keep our dollars local and support the entrepreneurs and creators who call Albuquerque home,” said Mayor Tim Keller. “When you spend money locally, you are helping to support someone’s family, and someone’s dream.”
To keep things accessible and encourage folks to come out, parking will be free on City meters along Central from 8th to Carlisle and in the Old Town parking lot from November 24 through December 25.
The EDD hosted their quarterly Small Business Resource Fair earlier this this week, and also offers several initiatives and programs to bolster Albuquerque’s small business, including the Small Business Office, Job Training Albuquerque, and the New Mexico Minority Business Development Agency Business Center.
In 2018, the City launched the nationally-recognized Buy Local initiative, a two-fold effort that encourages the community to make conscious decisions to support locally-owned businesses and calls on City departments to award contracts to local vendors. Through this initiative, over $7 million in contracts have been brought back to Albuquerque and awarded to local businesses.