Today Kimberley’s and my professional holiday season draws to a close. Small business retail this time of year, basically from Thanksgiving or even Halloween through today, is our most hectic, lucrative, and exhausting time, much as it sometimes seems to be for anyone out shopping in stores like ours. I don’t doubt that most of you shop at Amazon or bought your gifts mostly through online marketplaces but hopefully, if you live somewhere where people make a living filling the storefronts in your neighborhood, you got out and spent some money in those local spots. Here in New York City it almost seems like a given that shops provide the holiday experience but we know better. It is not a given, but is rather a mutual effort in which shopkeepers try to provide good service and attractive products for people who want to take the time to support them. Shop local, shop small. Happy holidays.