Small Business Saturday- This weekend

Earlier in the week, we told you about the upcoming 'Small business Saturday', the national day where you are encouraged to shop locally and support local businesses.

Well what is the best way for you to get involved then? Well, with the Christmas season approaching, there are a number of ways to join in with this campaign, and help support the local business owners in our communities.

Do your Christmas shop: You've probably already experienced the Christmas rush in the city centre, with the bright Christmas lights, people moving in all directions and queues at tills, it can sometimes be more of a stressful experience than a successful one. Searching for inspiration for gifts for those hard-to-buy-for friends and family members can be somewhat overwhelming amongst the huge variety on display, and then there's always the question of 'have they already got it.' Shopping locally can help you find some unique gifts which they (probably) don't have. As well as that you'll be supporting local retailers, many of whom make hand-made and bespoke items.

Eat locally: Why not take the opportunity this Saturday to avoid the supermarkets and use the local bakery, butcher and greengrocer to do some of your food shopping. While you won't find the big brands you'll find in the supermarkets, you will get some great, fresh produce, and you really will taste the difference. Why not take the opportunity to have a locally-sourced Christmas dinner? Find a local farm or butcher and order in your turkey for Christmas day, a great way of supporting the local businesses.

International Coffee Day

Every day is an international day of some sort, but the international coffee day seems one worth raising a glass, or mug, to, and today's the day! Being made from a grown source, the coffee bean, it is obviously difficult to tell when coffee drinking was first discovered. The first evidence appears to show coffee drinking starting in the mid 15th century in Yemen. Coffee became popular in England due to the British East India Company, and Oxford's Queen's Lane Coffee House started up in 1654.

Over the years coffee has become a much loved commodity across the world, and nowadays is the source of many social and business meetings, with coffee shops becoming increasingly popular year by year. The phrase 'going for a coffee' is used even by those who never drink coffee, it's become something of a modern day term for going for a drink, whether that be tea, coffee, juice or pretty much anything that's not an alcoholic beverage. Despite the big chains such as Starbucks and Costa having coffee shops left right and centre, the local and unique coffee shops are still popular, and are often even more popular than the big guns due to being a bit different and being supported because they are a locally owned and run business.

Why not take the opportunity of it being 'international coffee day' to visit some of the locally owned coffee (or tea) shops in the Olney area?! There are lots- Beans, Cafe Tosco, Teapots and Much Ado, to name but a few!

What's next?!...

Post Valentines day, what’s the next occasion our shops will be trying to sell us? Easter eggs will be in the stores within the next few days, if not already, and then there’s Mothers day, for which cards have already been seen on the shelves. They’re obviously nice things to be advertising, but why oh why do they feel the need to pounce on us so early?! It feels like the day of one event, the next is being advertised. It's like the classic 'back to school' adverts, which are always up in the shops before the school holidays have even started, making all children seeing it feel like their holiday is over before it's even begun!