Shop local all year long to see our community survive

Shop local is common phrase used in the month of December, but we want to remind you it is an admirable thing to do year around.

Our community was able to welcome some new businesses to Thermopolis in 2023 and we hope the same will be true in 2024. We also have some established businesses add new goods, services and attractions. Some businesses were relocated to new, better locations and some saw name or ownership changes.

The current population of Thermopolis is just over 2,700 people and our county population comes in at just under 5,000.

We may see less selection and slightly higher prices at our local businesses than in larger towns, but we are lucky to have every one of them.

Imagine if we had no grocery story, no gas station, no where to buy a book, no where get a specialty coffee drink, no where to get a haircut, etc.

We could go on and on about the importance of being thankful for what we have, but people continue to focus more on what we don’t have. We don’t have the lowest prices, we don’t have the biggest selection, we don’t have this and we don’t have that.

What we do have are some amazing businesses owners and community members doing their best to provide top quality service while making a living for themselves and their families. They are paying local taxes, attending local fundraisers, banquets, sporting events and more.

Why? Because they like it here. They want to be here. They want to raise their children here and visit with their grandchildren here.

We suggest one of the ways you can “Do more in 24” is by shopping local as much as you can. If we don’t, there will come a day when we can’t.