18 THE COURIER SUN • DECEMBER 8, 2016 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com sun WWW.COURIERSUN.COM VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS JOSHUA A. SCHNEPS BOB BRENNAN ROBERT POZARYCKI AMY AMATO-SANCHEZ NIRMAL SINGH CHERYL GALLAGHER RON TORINA, JONATHAN RODRIGUEZ EMILY DAVENPORT KATRINA MEDOFF, ANTHONY GIUDICE, ANGELA MATUA, SUZANNE MONTEVERDI CLIFF KASDEN, SAMANTHA SOHMER, ELIZABETH ALONI JACLYN HERTLING DEBORAH CUSICK WARREN SUSSMAN CELESTE ALAMIN MARIA VALENCIA VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS JOSHUA A. SCHNEPS editorial PUBLISHER & EDITOR CO-PUBLISHER ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER EDITOR-IN-CHIEF VP, EVENTS, WEB & SOCIAL MEDIA ART DIRECTOR ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR ARTISTS SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER STAFF REPORTERS CONTRIBUTING REPORTERS EVENTS COORDINATOR ASSISTANT TO PUBLISHER SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE CLASSIFIED MANAGER CONTROLLER PRESIDENT & CEO VICE PRESIDENT Schneps Communications, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361 718-224-5863 • Fax 718-224-5441 www.qns.com editorial e-mail: editorial@qns.com for advertising e-mail: ads@qns.com Entire Contents Copyright 2016 by The Courier Sun All letters sent to THE COURIER SUN should be brief and are subject to condensing. Writers should include a full address and home and office telephone numbers, where available, as well as affiliation, indicating special interest. Anonymous letters are not printed. Name withheld on request. No such ad or any part thereof may be reproduced without prior permission of THE COURIER SUN. The publishers will not be responsible for any error in advertising beyond the cost of the space occupied by the error. Errors must be reported to THE COURIER SUN within fi ve days of publication. Ad position cannot be guaranteed unless paid prior to publication. VIctoria Media Services assumes no liability for the content or reply to any ads. The advertiser assumes all liability for the content of and all replies. The advertiser agrees to hold The Courier SUN and its employees harmless from all cost, expenses, liabilities, and damages resulting from or caused by the publication or recording placed by the advertiser or any reply to any such advertisement. THE SKINS SING AT MASPETH’S KNOCKDOWN CENTER // PHOTO BY ANTHONY GIUDICE Send us your photos of Queens and you could see them online or in our paper! To submit them to us, tag @queenscourier on Instagram, visit our Facebook page, tweet @QNS or email editorial@qns.com (subject: Queens Snaps). THE HOT TOPIC STORY: Armed bandits pistol-whip elderly man while robbing him at his Bayside house: cops SUMMARY: An elderly man was robbed of his iPhone 7 by two unknown robbers REACH: 25,134 (as of Dec. 5, 2016) Shop small businesses every day The holiday shopping season is in high gear across Queens, but if a recent national poll is any indication, the vast majority of our readers haven’t finished checking off all the items on their shopping list. In the mad rush to Christmas, most of us will be piling into cars, trains or buses to the local malls or finding bargains online from the comforts of our laptop computers. We do, however, repeat some advice we’ve given before to spend a good portion of your holiday shopping funds with the local businesses in your neighborhood. A few years ago, American Express created the “Small Business Saturday” campaign to encourage residents to frequent their local mom-and-pop businesses the day after Black Friday, which (naturally) is the busiest shopping day of the year. This is a nice idea, but in reality, small businesses depend on our business every day of the year, not just for a gimmick or a shopping season. Queens has a host of business improvement districts (BIDs) representing some of the borough’s major shopping strips, from Steinway Street in Astoria to Jamaica Avenue in Woodhaven, from Bell Boulevard in Bayside to Jamaica Avenue in Woodhaven. These strips have an array of small clothing boutiques, liquor stores, electronics dealers, fine bars and restaurants, health clubs and much more. Many of these businesses are owned by people from the neighborhood, and employ local residents. It’s true, of course, that many of them do not offer the types of discounts one would find online or in a big box store owned by some faceless, corporate conglomerate a world away. Some things, however, are worth the extra buck. When you spend money with them, you’re not just buying a product; you’re also investing in your neighborhood and its viability. You’re not only keeping people employed, but you’re also giving back to the community and to the city. These business owners and employees also spend locally, and they keep the economic cycle moving strong when business is brisk. Small businesses also support a variety of civic causes. Look at the many sponsors of local holiday tree lightings, check out the postings in church and synagogue bulletins, thumb through the ads of this newspaper. Almost all of them are small businesses supporting the community in whatever way they can. Because they support the community, the community should support small businesses — not just for one day, but every day.
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