A Note From the Publishers – July 2020

“Don’t separate yourself from the needy. Always try to be as close as you can and try to help people because that’s going to make your life more valuable.” – Yusuf / Cat Stevens

It’s great to see some normalcy around town, it appears that we have now entered the endurance phase of this pandemic. Though many of us are still a little scared, we have to find a way to live with the coronavirus in our midst – washing our hands a lot, practicing social distancing and wearing masks when we are out in public.
Endurance takes patience, in fact, it’s finding that you can adapt and turn the strangest circumstance into routine. We are also in the process of discovery and we are slowly learning about this disease, slowly improving what will be a wide variety of ways forward. Endurance is not static. It’s slowly learning and slowly adjusting. So far, as a community, we remain united and stand together.
As a small independently owned business, we know that no matter how the ground shifts around us, small local independently owned businesses remain the bedrock of our community. By their very existence, the stores and restaurants that line our streets contribute mightily to who and what we are and who and what we want to be.
It’s one thing for the government to permit businesses to re-open. It’s another thing for each of us to take the time to find a local business and drive a couple of minutes further to support the mom and pop shop, versus ordering from a big box store.
If we want to regain something resembling the town and community we called home pre-pandemic, it’s our responsibility to support independently owned business now.
The time is now!
According to the Small Business Administration, small businesses are the engines of job creation, accounting for 64 percent of the net new private sector jobs. They operate and hire locally, which impacts not only the local economy, but the overall health of our community. One study found that for every $100 a person spends at a local business, $68 stays in the community, compared to only $43 of every $100 spent at a chain store.
When you shop at small businesses, tax dollars stay in the community. And because local businesses tend also to buy locally, more of the profits from their economic activity get pumped back into the community.
For the past 30-years, the Santa Clarita Magazine, has always promoted “Shop Local” and we will continue to support those that bring our community together, with this in mind, we would like to recognize our readers who shop local: We’ve been writing about the remarkable first responders, the generous businesses supporting them with food donations and the people volunteering. Now we’re going to start recognizing people who shop locally.
Every month we will publish the names together with a photograph of “SCV Local Super Shoppers:” or people who shopped locally. Please send us your photograph showing yourself with your purchase (other than groceries). Four local shoppers will be drawn at random every month to win $50 gift card from one of our advertisers.
We sincerely hope that everyone in our community will make a renewed effort to shop and do business in town.
Stay Safe …
Linda, Moe & Alexander Hafizi

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