Dec 26, 2011

Helping Local Stores Have a Holly, Jolly ChristmasBy Kym ByrnesColesville.Patch.com

Colesville, MD – Towns and cities throughout the state are encouraging residents to shop local this holiday season, pointing out that small businesses make up about 98 percent of the state’s employers. Plus, if you’ve procrastinated, your local shop is just around the corner.

A small business is considered a business with less than 500 employees. According to the Maryland Small Business Association, there were 526,663 small businesses in the state in 2008.

As the holidays approached this year, U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD), a member of the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, urged Marylanders to shop at local, independently owned businesses on the nation’s second annual “Small Business Saturday.”

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