Our View: Support your local businesses - or else

As a locally owned newspaper hyper-focused on local news, with local owners and support from local neighbors, no one understands the concept of supporting a local business more than we do at the Pine Knot News.

Our owners subscribe to the local papers including the Proctor Journal, the Moose Lake Star Gazette, the Hermantown Star and the Duluth News Tribune. Heck, we even get the competing Pine Journal, even though most of their stories are recycled Duluth stories with just a small amount of unique local news. That’s because we are true locavores. We support local business. Do you?

Here’s a short list of some business we don’t support anymore: Marketplace Meats in Scanlon. SpotLite Video on Cloquet Avenue. McDonald Rental. Rudy’s Café. Avenue C Restaurant. Puumala Clinic. NE BBQ. That’s because these local businesses are no longer in operation.

Local businesses with strong local support are good for our local economy.

So, as we enter the holiday shopping season, we encourage shoppers to shop locally. Need good shoes? Try Burger’s on Carlton Avenue. Hardware and lights? Check out L&M, or Wood City Lights on Cloquet Avenue. Groceries? We have three great grocery stores in town, no need to drive to Duluth. Printing? Northern Printery in West End and Community Printing in the east end do a nice job. With a little effort, you’ll probably find everything you need right here in Carlton County.

Such services used to be available in downtown Esko, downtown Carlton and downtown Wrenshall. As commerce became more centralized, these small towns lost their retail. We can’t let that happen anymore. Support your local businesses for strong, healthy local community on Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and every other day of the year.

We welcome your input to the Pine Knot News community newspaper. Send your thoughts, letters, or news to [email protected].