Support South Dakota’s Small Businesses
By Sen. John Thune
Soon after the snow starts in South Dakota, Thanksgiving ushers in the holiday season. I love this time of year: gathering around the Thanksgiving feast with my family, throwing the football around outside, and giving thanks to God for our many blessings.
Of course, the holiday season also means a long to-do list: picking up groceries, finding the perfect gift, and getting gas for the trip to see family. Whatever it is you need and wherever the holidays take you, South Dakota’s small businesses will have you covered.
For a number of years now, the Saturday after Thanksgiving has marked Small Business Saturday. It’s a special opportunity to support the roughly 95,000 small businesses that are the backbone of our state’s and many communities’ economies. Shopping small has a big impact. Small businesses are often a lot more than a storefront on Main Street, they are a big a part of our communities. Dollars spent at a small business stay local, and small businesses often turn around and support their communities through booster clubs, Chambers of Commerce, or even offering a young person his or her first job.
I also have a great appreciation for the important role small businesses play in helping people achieve the American Dream. After immigrating from Norway and helping build the railroad across South Dakota, my grandfather and his brother opened a hardware store in Mitchell. My grandfather opened another location in Murdo, and my parents worked there after World War II. I also got my start working at a small business: the Star Family Restaurant. I worked my way up from busboy to cook, and it taught me invaluable lessons about hard work and what it takes to run a small business.
As I’m traveling around South Dakota, it’s always a pleasure to drop in to small businesses wherever I am. It’s great to have a chance to hear directly from business owners and see what their operation is all about. Just recently I stopped into the Daily Grind in Lemmon for a cup of coffee, and got some treats for my grandkids at Grandma’s Chocolates. I was at the Meathouse in Andover, and popped into Mike’s Food Center down the road in Webster. And I grabbed lunch at Toby’s Lounge in Meckling on my way to tour Masaba’s manufacturing facility in Vermillion.
These visits give me valuable insight when I return to Washington. Small business owners need pro-growth policies that help them reinvest in their businesses, hire more workers, and grow. Next year, Congress will have an important debate about tax policy as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act expires at the end of 2025. President Trump and Republican majorities in Congress are committed to preserving lower tax rates and policies that ushered in a strong economy and grew paychecks during the first Trump administration. As always, I’ll rely on the input from South Dakota small businesses for this important debate.
Small businesses are at the heart of the American spirit. Whether they’re working out of a storefront on Main Street or working late nights at their kitchen table to get a business off the ground, small business owners are preserving the American Dream. I hope you’ll join me in supporting South Dakota’s small businesses this Small Business Saturday, throughout the holiday season, and all year round.
###