Three Chattanooga nonprofits are urging community members to shop locally this holiday season, and the organizations have created gift guides to help residents make the perfect purchase.
“We have so many great locally-owned businesses here, and we know that Chattanoogans love to support their city,” CO.LAB CEO Lindsey Cox said. “We hope that shoppers will be intentional about spending money at Chattanooga businesses.”
The Company Lab has a gift guide available both in print and at https://colab.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/COLAB-GiftGuide-DIGITALCORRECT.pdf
The guide includes 19 businesses/gift ideas. But if the highlighted gift isn’t a perfect fit, CO.LAB leaders encourage shoppers to look at other products from the local companies.
CO.LAB highlighted businesses that have been through one of the nonprofit’s programs, or businesses that leaders have worked with closely.
Local nonprofits Launch Chattanooga and Chattanooga Tourism Co. also have gift guides with local insight into the best presents for the holiday season.
“LAUNCH is dedicated to supporting entrepreneurs of color, female founders and residents of low income neighborhoods,” Executive Director of LAUNCH Hal Bowling said. “Our gift guide, the ‘Buy Local Buy LAUNCH,’ is a valuable resource for people who want to support local businesses.”
A print version of LAUNCH’s gift guide, which also includes catering options, has been made available to its supporters and a digital version is available.
In addition to this online gift guide, the Chattanooga Tourism Co. also sells merchandise at the official Chattanooga Store. On Black Friday, blue shirts are $10 if you use the code BLUESHIRT. And on Cyber Monday, shoppers can use the code MONDAYNOOGA to get 15 percent off any product on the site.
Local business owners, as well as national leaders, said that shopping early this year will help shoppers avoid delays due to supply chain disruptions. And, according to The National Retail Federation, shoppers are already trending toward getting gifts early.