We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving surrounded by the people who are important to you and that you were able to spend the day doing something that brought you joy.

One of the things I was thankful for was the amazing support I saw for small businesses this weekend. Many of you spent the official kick off to the holiday shopping season supporting the businesses in Alameda. I saw several posts from local businesses thanking customers and visitors for their support.

After such a difficult two years, it made my heart happy to see neighbors helping neighbors. We hope this will continue throughout the holiday shopping season.

If you’ve made a commitment to supporting local or shopping small this holiday season, don’t forget non-retail businesses as well. There are service professionals that may offer unique gifts for those on your list. Eating local is also a great way to support the community. Local gift cards make great gifts too.

We hope you’ll join us in our goal to shop small this holiday season and beyond. Your support of small business doesn’t have to end with Small Business Saturday.

In fact, that should be just the beginning.