Local Shopping Ideas from Brad Lander

Here are a few ideas for shopping local this holiday season: Start locally: Before you head online or to a mall, think about how much you can get from neighborhood stores. Think especially about the people in your life who love Brooklyn, and how much they'll appreciate a gift that helps make it stronger.

From Brooklyn Green Team: plus, when you support small family owned businesses, it's easier to make suggestions to them on how to green thier operations rather than submit to a "contact form" on a corporation's website -- right...AND by keeping those businesses thriving you prevent 50 nail salons from descending in your hood.

IShopBrooklyn.com: Check out Borough President Marty Markowitz' "I Shop Brooklyn" website for neighborhood shopping ideas.

Small Business Saturday, tomorrow, November 27th: Tomorrow is the first national "small business Saturday." http://www.facebook.com/SmallBusinessSaturday.

Join the 3/50 project: Pick three local businesses you'd most like to support, and commit to spend $50 per month at them. http://www.the350project.net/.

Share your favorite local shopping stories and ideas with us: Email me at lander@council.nyc.gov with your favorite stores and stories -- especially of those local businesses who are great employers & neighbors -- and we'll share some of them with others on our blog. You can also check out the web sites of our local BIDs and merchants associations:

-- Park Slope 5th Avenue BID, http://www.parkslopefifthavenuebid.com/
-- Kensington Area Merchant & Residents Association, http://karmabrooklyn.blogspot.com/

-- Court Street Merchants Association, http://www.courtstreetmerchants.org/

-- Atlantic Avenue Betterment Association, http://www.atlanticavenuebkny.com/

-- Park Slope Chamber of Commerce, www.shopseventh.com

-- Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, http://www.ibrooklyn.com/

Thanks Brad!