Calgary Chamber of Commerce encourages shopping local this holiday season

The countdown to Christmas is on and for many Calgary business owners the pressure is on too.

While the pandemic is somewhat in the rearview, it’s still not business-as-usual for Calgary’s small business community.

As Deborah Yedlin with the Calgary Chamber of Commerce explains, local businesses have new challenges and struggles heading into the holidays, with rising costs across the board.

“Rising interest rates have not been helpful, the labour issues have also not been helpful,” she said. “There’s an ongoing challenge the business community and the small businesses have been facing, and of course, property taxes have also not been helping.”

The repayment deadline is quickly approaching for small businesses that took out a Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) loan during the pandemic.

With under 50 days to pay that back, Yedlin says many small businesses are at risk of closing their doors.

“That is going to be weighing on a lot of individuals and small businesses if they haven’t been able repay it yet — will they be able to re-finance that so they can have the forgiven portion of their loan?” she said.

She’s encouraging Calgarians to shop locally this holiday season, and help support the neighbours who make up 95 per cent of Calgary businesses, and the majority of local employment.

“They’re very, very important contributors to the economy and there’s a re-circulation factor — for every $100 earned by a business, $45 is recirculated into the economy,” Yedlin added. “They matter, so let’s think about making sure that they have a successful holiday season and can see themselves into 2024.”