Oklahoma City isn't very different from Lawton you know. Sure it's a lot bigger with a lot more people, but in terms of small business, it's just about the same. Small businesses dot the landscape in every corner of the town. As is human nature, it's hard to get people to shop local businesses if they have to spend the day driving from one to another, so OKC came up with an idea to put them all in one place for a few weeks with a pop-up shop. Brilliant.

Think of this as Arts For All, but with local businesses and boutiques selling affordable things people would love to receive as gifts. Somebody in the OKC chamber came up with an idea to put up small geodesic shops. It's enough space for any local business willing to be apart of it to put out whatever it is that sells best in their store year round. We're not talking about moving the entire storefront do a different location for a few weeks, it's pretty much the hot sellers up for grabs from a ton of local businesses, but all in one convenient location. As even we in Lawton will order something on Amazon just to skip a very quick trip to Walmart, this is something that makes sense.

How are we not already doing this in Lawton? Our local businesses here are so spread out in every tiny shopping center in town, why doesn't the chamber put something like this together? Imagine placing something like this in the vast empty area of Elmer Thomas Park to fill in the lacking holiday cheer? Drive through, see the lights, stop for a little light shopping at verified local joints? It seems like a slam dunk. Of course, it's too late to get it done in 2020, and with covid, I don't know anyone that's shopping in person... but 2021, when the Lawton Local Business Holiday Shoppes opens, you'll know this is where the idea came from.

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