As the expression goes. . . . "it's all over but the shout". From a retailer's standpoint every year gets more interesting. This past Christmas shopping season there were more options than ever of ways and places to spend your dollars. Black Friday morphed into Gray Thursday (or was it Brown Thursday?). Whichever, how long before December 25th is fair game? Maybe they'll call that Green Christmas. The Mass Ave merchants teamed up to do "The Twelve Days of Mass Ave" which was a pop-up store in a vacant store front on Main Street in Carmel. The idea was to combine several businesses as one shop that would be open Friday, Saturday and Sunday for four weekends to introduce the shoppers in Carmel to the Mass Ave District. Carmel businesses considered doing the same downtown Indy. Another concept is the boutique trucks that come to venues to sell their wares much like the food trucks do. What's really taking hold is Amazon and online shopping. We heard about Cyber Monday. Then we heard about the future of delivery that might be done by drones. By the looks of it drones might be very real. UPS and Fed EX are under fire for not being able to keep up and getting packages delivered after Christmas. On Christmas Eve at 5:45 PM, we were headed east on 54th Street, just past College and passed a UPS truck. We commented that it was a shame he was still out there delivering while we were on our way to be with our family. Days later, on the news, I saw a Fed EX delivery man being interviewed. He said that at least he was able to get the job done but he was not able to be with his family.

I know I speak for every store merchant who says thank you for shopping Small Business Saturday, which was the Saturday after Thanksgiving. For us it was so much fun. Everyone was in a festive mood and really understood the need and wanted to support small independents. The message was out there. Shopping bags were donated by American Express as were welcome doormats. Statistics were posted: For each dollar you spend at an independent, locally owned business, approximately 80% goes back to the community versus about 35% from a franchise or chain - and 0% from the Internet. And. . . small local businesses are the largest employer nationally providing the most jobs to residents. Fully half of all private-sector jobs in the nation are in small business. So, while the internet is convenient, it lacks so much. It's fun to get in the mood in small stores with Christmas music, gift wrap, good service and conversation. It is a threat to our community when our neighborhood shops close due to lack of business. Vacancies are created and our Avenues lose their charm and convenience. So thank you for making things bright and cheerful for your community by showing your support. Don't stop because it is January. I show here a photo of a shopper at City Dogs Grocery who was surprised by Santa. She was more than willing to have her picture taken showing her support as she made her way with all her bags to many shops. As she discovered, there were bargains, discounts and gifts with purchase at small establishments as well as plenty of gratitude. Ho! Ho! Ho! Happy New Year! See you in the stores!