AUSTIN (KXAN) -- If you were scrambling to find last minute holiday gifts Monday and found yourself shopping local, 70 cents out of every dollar you spent will go back into our local economy, according to Austin's Economic Development Department.
Blue Suede on South 1st Street is one of those local, small businesses that says it was benefiting from holiday shopping. The shop was started by a pair of best friends who love wine and shoes and sell those very things.
"We've been hosting a lot of events in our lounge space and we've been pretty busy with gift certificates and Christmas shopping. It's been a lot of fun," said Cynthia McMillioan, co-founder of Blue Suede.
The city of Austin categorizes a small business as one that has 100 employees or less. There are 30,000 of them in our city, according to the Economic Development Department. The city has a list of economic and cultural districts, where you can find patches of small businesses, here.
While the holiday hustle and bustle may give a boost to those businesses, the city of Austin has quite a few programs that support them year-round. That includes everything from classes to coaching to funding help. The goal?
"Providing the wages that are necessary, the workforce that is necessary and the tools and programs that are necessary to make sure that our economy and our labor and our people are provided a quality of life that make complete communities across the city of Austin," said Matthew Schmidt, acting cultural arts division manager for the city of Austin's Economic Development Department.
One of the most recent programs passed by Austin City Council in September to add to that list of resources, is called the Place-Based Enhancement Program. That helps small businesses with affordable spaces. You can read more about the program here.
"It is currently still under development with an intended launch in March. And we are expected to do a series of workshops over the next few months which is intended to inform the public of how this program is intended to roll out," Schmidt said.
So what can you do as a shopper? While you may be done with holiday shopping for now, folks like Schmidt and McMillioan hope you'll keep small businesses in mind moving forward.
"I think small businesses really represent the heart of Austin. We're getting a lot of influx of the bigger companies coming in. And to keep the spirit of Austin, like the true spirit of Austin alive, I think shopping local is huge," McMillioan said.
