Sorry if you’re hoping for another Kink Month post. As far as I know there’s nothing kinky about Black Friday, although it has been getting a little twisted lately.
I can’t lie; I’ve pulled myself out of bed the day after Thanksgiving and stood in line outside a store at 3 a.m.—but not this year. In fact, the only thing I’m buying on Black Friday this year will be a loaf of bread so I can make a turkey sandwich (and I may wait on that too)!
Small Business Saturday, though, that’s different. I’ve been pouring through patterns this evening because one of my holiday rituals is to visit a local yarn shop on Shop Small Saturday and buy anything I want. This year, since I’m hoping to start a legal internship in January, I’ll be looking for something luxurious yet tasteful. I have a few ideas, but this post isn’t about yarn.
My hero in Curious Sustenance, Ross, has an agenda. He has more than one, but only one was relevant for the story. I have agendas too—one of them involves calling bullshit on classism which really does relate to Black Friday, honest.
I refuse to support retailers who won’t even give their employees one full day off for Thanksgiving—so that means I’ll have to visit the little indie bakery in my neighborhood for a $5 loaf of bread, because all the chains are doing it. I worked retail for many years to barely eek out a living, and I know every one of those folks have earned their day off. My contribution to Black Friday wouldn’t have been large but that’s not the point. I won’t put things ahead of people.
To further my agenda, the entry for my giveaway is to talk about a small business you can support on Saturday.
I planned to have a bunch of colorful pictures of the giveaway presents, but my daughter and her girlfriend borrowed my camera this afternoon—and of course I forgot to take some of the pix I need first! Until I get my camera back, here’s a list of the goodies up for grabs. All prizes are International, although I can’t guarantee the ones relying on the US Postal Service will arrive before Christmas.
Two collections of M/M erotic shorts from Thianna D: Volume IV and Volume VII
An ebook from the lovely Dianne Hartsock’s backlist—winner’s choice!
A beautiful tabletop picture frame from Japan—wood covered in kimono fabric.
Six sexy dishcloths that look like this—one for each color of the rainbow (six separate prizes):
Every comment talking about a way to support Small Business Saturday is a chance to win.
I’ll choose the winners early on Cyber Monday (PST) with the help of Random.org and post them here, so don’t forget to check back!
Photo credits:
Wanted: Santa Claus by kevin dooley, on Flickr
Lady Marmalade Dishcloth, designed by Shirley MacDonald
Charley Descoteaux 
Good for you! I’m also going to pass on the whole Black Friday and do a Small Business Saturday. I worked retail for to many years also, so I know what it’s like to not be home with my kids when they were growing up because I had to work.
This is a great idea…l used to go to Black Friday sales but l don’t anymore. l think stores that opened on Thanksgiving shouldn’t have.
There is a local bakery in town that makes the best desserts, The Bonbonerie…l should go there to get desserts since the pumpkin pie bars l bought at the grocery were awful.
There is an art show and craft fair here every year and a local farm sells homemade mustard, jamsand soap, which l’ve bought as gifts.
There’s a coffee shop right down the street from me that competes with the big guys.
Awesome! Thanks Laurie & Nancy–it’s good to know I’m not alone. 🙂
hey LOVE the smexy dish cloth!
Thanks, Shey! As soon as I saw the pattern I had to have it. Janet would approve! 🙂
The Santa Claus pic is brilliant! We know he’s a wanted man 😉
I love the whole Small Business Saturday idea. When you are pinching pennies, I can totally understand going to a huge retailer rather than the mom n’ pop shop down the street, but I love the mom n’ pop shops. I really do.
We have several indie stores here in town that stand out. I won’t hit our indie bookstore because they are unfriendly to LGBT fiction, which makes me miss Borders. But I do think I will visit Eve’s Garden, which is an indie adult store. I haven’t visited them for awhile and while most of their stuff is in the realm of ‘bridal shower doo-dads’, they do get some fun toys in from time to time. 🙂
What a cool way to support a local business & have a little fun in the process! You’re the queen of great ideas, Thianna!
Which reminds me I need to get a snippet ready. 😉
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Charley, I haven’t done any shopping this weekend (except ebook-buying at all the publishers who were having sales!), but I do love to support my local shops. Of course we have some great independent bookstores (new and used) that I absolutely love and frequent often, but we have great boutique shops where I buy presents and cards. I just find the gift buying to be one of the benefits because they really have unique things because they can, molding things to their specific customer base instead of having to please some amorphous mass of consumers. The one thing I really need to improve on is local grocery shopping. My chain store is just so close, and I’m so used to just popping over all the time.
We do have a great program here to promote local businesses in our state, and they are really getting the word out about how important it is to shop local. It just makes sense to put more money into your community, and buying from local businesses does that. Yes, it’ll cost more (but are higher-quality) but to me, it’s more important to spend what I have responsibly, and I know I’m getting a greater value for my purchase in so many ways.
Sometimes I feel like the only person in the world who doesn’t shop at Walmart, but to me, their business practices not only hurt the surrounding community but I don’t think they treat their workers well and sometimes not their customers with their products. Saving some money is not more important than people or my community. Obviously they are not the only chain store who hurts and has bad practices, but they are the big example of how one non-local company who can really mess with a community.
I just feel like it’s really important to think about not only how you’re spending your money but what impact the spending has on your community. I’m really glad you brought this topic up!