By: Gwyneth Egan
Some local Ottawa businesses opted out of offering Black Friday sales this year to protest unethical practices and rampant consumerism.
Despite the pressures on businesses to provide discounts, some business owners are instead advocating for conscious consumerism over excessive shopping and consumption.
“A holiday around consumerism is just offensive,” said Susie Pearson, owner of Hintonburg Kids, a baby and children’s boutique on Wellington Street.
“It’s a day designed to get people to buy,” she said. “It’s just artificial.”
Pearson said she does not participate in Black Friday as a rule because it encourages people to buy things they don’t need.
The way big companies, such as Amazon, treat sales days like Black Friday make it difficult for small businesses to compete, she said.
“A good Christmas season is what carries [small] retailers through,” Pearson said.
It’s a problem for small businesses that Amazon tends to be the first place shoppers look for items, Pearson added.
“When people shop at places like Amazon, I understand it’s cheaper, (but) they do nothing for your community,” she said. “There’s value to supporting your community with your dollars.”
“This is the important time for some businesses to determine if they’re going to survive,” said Christine Leadman, the executive director of the Downtown Bank Business Improvement Area.
The holiday shopping season is arriving at a time when inflation has many cash-strapped Canadians looking for deals. In October, inflation rose nearly seven per cent over the same month in 2021, according to Statistics Canada.
Local businesses bring a “local flavour” to Ottawa that is “really important for business areas to survive and our city cores to do well,” Leadman said.
Rachelle Bélanger, a manager at Purple Urchin, a natural, hand-made bath and body store on Bank Street, said she’s aware of the negative impact a lack of Black Friday sales can have on the store’s foot traffic, but she does not want to contribute to the “frenzied atmosphere for shopping” instigated by the “dehumanizing” practices of the holiday.
“I know we’d probably have more people in today if we had Black Friday sale deals,” she said. “But I don’t want shopping for the sake of shopping.”
Some business owners say that Black Friday sales are the only way to remain competitive with other retailers that offer similar products.
“Most of my customers shop here and at a competitor,” said Michael Wallack, the owner of Wallack’s Art Supplies & Framing, located on Bank Street.
“If I don’t offer a Black Friday deal and all my competitors do and I’m the lone one out … I’m just going to be the company that didn’t do anything and didn’t offer [my customers] anything,” he said.
“There’s very few customers that are 100 per cent dedicated to one store, so we are always neck and neck,” Wallack said. “It is very competitive.”
While Wallack’s store is participating in Black Friday sales, he said “it’s not just about being competitive on that lower price point or just being overly consumeristic.”
Wallack said he sees his store’s offers this weekend as “a bit more than offering a discount.”
“It’s like saying ‘Thank you,'” he said.
