More People Say They’ll Shop Local This Christmas

While a lot of people will be headed to the malls on Black Friday, it turns out more and more people seem to be interested in spending their dollars at small, local stores.

A survey conducted by Yelp found that 64% of shoppers say they plan to shop at local businesses this holiday season, with Millennials the most willing to hit their nearby mom and pop store, with 69% planning to shop at independent retailers.

And this is bound to be good news for these local businesses, since local shoppers plan to spend an average of $258 each at their stores, which comes out to about $40 billion between November and December.

As for why people are opting to shop locally, 67% of people say it’s because they want to find unique gifts, while 55% say they want to support the local economy, and 44% say they do it out of convenience. As for those who don’t shop locally, it’s more about the money, with 31% citing lack of competitive pricing as the top reason they don’t shop at independent businesses.

As long as I don’t have to step foot in a mall, a store’s got my money.

Do you plan to do your holiday shopping at local businesses? What motivates you to shop locally? What type of things are you looking for that you can only find at independent retailers?