Shine Bright and Shop Local This Holiday Season
Today, the City lit the 36-foot holiday tree on Civic Plaza. The event included a holiday pop-up featuring 10 local vendors. As Small Business Saturday and Buy Local Month get closer, Mayor Keller highlighted holiday shopping events taking place all over town. Albuquerque is home to over 40,000 small businesses that enrich our community and are a key part of the local economy. The holiday season is an important time to support our local small businesses.
“There are so many opportunities this season to support our local entrepreneurs and creators who call Albuquerque home,” said Mayor Tim Keller. “When you spend money locally, you are helping to support someone’s family and someone’s dream.”
“The ripple effect shopping small and shopping local has on our community cannot be understated,” said Economic Development Director Max Gruner. “Our hope is that we can help encourage folks to look local first, because you can find the perfect gift – no matter the time of year – from a small business right here in our town.”
To make it easier for folks to buy local, there will be free two-hour parking at meters along Central Avenue in Downtown and Nob Hill and the City-owned parking lots in Old Town from November 30, 2024 to January 2, 2025.
A list of holiday shopping events and other community activities can be found on the City's Holiday Buy Local Events webpage. The City also encourages attendees to take advantage of free and convenient bus service to avoid parking hassles and traffic while visiting holiday markets and local strolls.
Community members can follow the Economic Development Department on social media and participate in the shop local campaign by tagging their favorite businesses, helping to showcase the diverse and vibrant entrepreneurs that make Albuquerque unique.
The EDD hosted their quarterly Small Business Resource Fair last week, and also offers several initiatives and programs to bolster Albuquerque’s small business, including the Small Business Office, Job Training Albuquerque, and the New Mexico Minority Business Development Agency Business Center.
In 2018, the City launched the nationally-recognized Buy Local initiative, a two-fold effort that encourages the community to make conscious decisions to support locally-owned businesses and calls on City departments to award contracts to local vendors. Through this initiative, over $7 million in contracts have been brought back to Albuquerque and awarded to local businesses.