Buy Local

Small Business Saturday Another Opportunity to Buy Indian

November 26, 2011, "Small Business Saturday" -- AND Native American Heritage Day! -- presents another opportunity for Indian Country to buy Indian -- to walk the walk.

The 2nd annual Small Business Saturday® is a day dedicated to supporting small businesses on one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year.

On November 26, we're asking millions of people to Shop Small® at their favorite local stores and help fuel the economy. When we all shop small, it will be huge.

Today, and throughout the holidays, shop small and buy Indian on your reservation or via the Internet.

Gabriel "Gabe" Galanda is a partner at Galanda Broadman PLLC, of Seattle, an American Indian majority-owned law firm.  He is an enrolled member of the Round Valley Indian Tribes of Covelo, California.  He can be reached at 206.691.3631 or gabe@galandabroadman.com, or via galandabroadman.com.

Buy Indian, Buy Local This Black Friday

Indian Country, especially its new middle class, wields formidable purchasing power, spending millions upon millions of dollars annually on goods and services. Yet “[o]n most reservations, there are few retail stores and tribal members must go off reservation and pay state taxes on everything they buy. Nationwide, this amounts to $246 million annually in tax revenues to state governments.” Although the infrastructure needed to support a robust reservation retail sector is largely still lacking in Indian Country, tribal citizens can still buy Indian/local, most notably via the Internet, where all varieties of tribal retail goods and services are available for sale. Indeed, "when you buy from an independent, locally owned business, rather than a nationally owned businesses, significantly more of your money is used to make purchases from other local businesses, service providers and farms -- continuing to strengthen the economic base of the community." This is especially true in Indian Country.

To the extent there are retail stores and/or tribally authorized sales taxation on a reservation, "locally-owned businesses generate a premium in enhanced economic impact to the community and our tax base."

Indian Country, starting this Black Friday and throughout this holiday season, buy Indian, buy local; buy early and often. Hopefully if you give Indian, you shall receive Indian.  Either way, make the effort to buy from your tribal community or to buy from the inter-tribal economy via the Internet, rather than buying from non-tribal economies. Yes, we can.

Gabriel "Gabe" Galanda is a partner at Galanda Broadman PLLC, of Seattle, an American Indian majority-owned law firm.  He is an enrolled member of the Round Valley Indian Tribes of Covelo, California.  He can be reached at 206.691.3631 or gabe@galandabroadman.com, or via galandabroadman.com.