By Heidi Marttila-Losure, Dakotafire Media
Reporting by Doug Card, The Britton Journal; Bill Krickac, Clark County Courier; and Jessica Giard

• A cold drive. Pushing crowds. General chaos.
• That's the image of Black Friday that will likely be reported in the national news later this week. 
• Area small-town retailers would like shoppers to consider another option: Skip the cold morning drive and the crowds, and stay home for good deals that help the local community.
• Bill Meyer, owner of Meyer Hardware in Britton, S.D., said Black Friday is an important day for the business.
• "We don't get crazy and open at five in the morning, but we do open at 7 a.m., and there is always a small line waiting to come in," Meyer said. "They day is about five times larger for us than our typical day. There's a group of people who just refuse to fight the crowds in the big towns and stay in town to get the Black Friday experience while still getting some very good deals."
• Or, if crowds and lines for Black Friday have become part of the holiday tradition, Clark, S.D., merchants have something else to offer: Small Town Saturday, when shoppers are enticed with deals to do their business locally on the day after Black Friday.
• Britton follows up its Black Friday offerings with Shop Britton Nights on Mondays in December until Christmas, when stores stay open into the evening.
• Chambers of commerce in small towns including Britton and Clark offer local currency (called, for example, "Britton Bucks" or "Clark Bucks") that encourages local spending. These "bucks" are given away in drawings but can also be purchased and given as gift certificates to be spent at local retailers.
• Open houses with seasonal food and drink are another common effort among retailers to get shoppers to come into their stores.
• All of these strategies point to the fact that a relatively modest increase in residents' local shopping can make a huge difference for these local businesses.
• Patience Pickner, owner of The Picket Fence and The Other Side of the Fence in downtown Chamberlain, S.D., said she's pleased to see more awareness for buying locally this Christmas on social media, especially Facebook.
• "Everyone tries to push buy locally, and that is so important,"Pickner said. "But I

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