Small business urging customers to shop small this holiday season

FORTVILLE — Do you have your holiday shopping done or have you even started yet?

This year, small businesses across the country are encouraging you to shop small and support your local community.

Fortville use to be a tiny dot on the map. Now, it’s a town where people are chasing their dreams — and they say your support during the holiday season keeps those dreams alive.

“I wouldn't want to be anywhere else, I say. I love having a little shop on Main Street USA,” said Kim Hubert, owner of Red Ranch Shoppes.

“It's a small town jumping in behind us and pushing us along,” Mark Pressley, owner of Moon Drops Distillery said.

“As a small business we really appreciate the support of the community,” Kate Jones, said part owner of Breath Beauty and Wellness.

“As a small business you try to you try to encourage people to buy small because all that money stays local,” said Larry Harnish, owner of Maduro on Main.

Whether it's clothing, odds and ends, services, cigars or legal moonshine, Fortville shop owners are open for business.

“Fourth quarter is always very important in retail, and that's any kind of retail. So, a lot of gift-giving, a lot of holiday decorating, shopping,” Hubert said.

And this holiday season, wherever you live, they’re urging you to shop local.

“If you buy cigars or items from me, I turn around I buy lunch from FoxGardin and that waiter and (a) server, in turn, takes that money and goes gets their haircut that Wicked Scissors or Cosmos Hair, and then that person goes to buy donuts and coffee at Sunrise — so all that money stays local, and you need that for a vibrant community to exist,” Harnish said.

Fortville is making it easy to shop local this weekend during their annual Winterfest.

Winterfest shuts down Main Street and the street becomes a market filled with dozens of vendors and activities.

“We have our parade at 1:30 and we have our tree lighting at 6:00. Again, you can visit Santa visit all of the vendors come and listen to our choirs, and we will have carolers kind of roaming around giving some music,” Natalie Tucker with the parks department said.

These business owners know shopping online at big box stores can be convenient.

“But there's also a convenience factor of going to a restaurant while you're waiting for your table go down to the next shop or go across the street and get dessert and so you can combine a lot of trips with one just coming to a main street,” Harnish said.

These shops are open all year round, but this weekend Winterfest is on Saturday from 10 to 7.

And there’s more than shopping, they will also have a kids area that’s completely free — and we hear that Santa will be in town, too.