Cutting off nose, spiting face

There's a post on boycotting Christmas giftgiving altogether over on Eschaton (NOT from Atrios, I notice - I suspect an economist wouldn't post something quite that ignorant - to be fair, a later post by another Eschatonian suggests shopping with local independents in lieu of a total boycott) I'm cut'pasting my comment from that thread:

One thing I don't like about being a small business owner is being mindlessly lumped in with the Walmarts of the world by suggestions like 'boycott christmas'.

Most small businesses run in the red throughout the year and only clear their books through Christmas sales. A Christmas boycott would not harm large corporations with deeper reserves and access to quantities of credit from their friends in the banking industry, but would throw many small businesses into bankruptcy.

Fortunately, I don't think a suggestion tossed off on a blog is going to actually achieve anything in the way of causing people to eschew gift-giving. And I was pleased to see the number of folks on this thread suggesting supporting the independent local businesses.

Our shop mannequins all wore Kerry buttons throughout Sept-Oct; we passed out buttons, bumperstickers and yardsigns, and offered voter registration forms for the unregistered. We were as devastated by the election results as anyone, particularly because it's fairly clear that Bush is going to continue policies that will ultimately ruin the economy if saner heads don't prevail.

We do offer a small fraction of our mechandise online (some of our stuff is one-of-a-kind and only available for real-presence purchase); if you'd like to support a Tiny Business who hopes to become a major force for good, visit Esoterica of Leesburg.

If you're anywhere near DC, drive out to Leesburg and visit us in person. Live music on Fridays, meditation on Mondays, drumming on Tuesdays, women's circle on Wednesdays.

And please don't lump all businesses in the Supports Bush bin. It hurts our feelings.