“Hallo, my fine fellow! ... Do you know the Poulterer’s, in the next street but one, at the corner? … Do you know whether they’ve sold the prize Turkey that was hanging up there? — Not the little prize Turkey: the big one?” —Ebenezer Scrooge

After his transforming night with the Spirits Past, Present, and Future in Charles Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge realized he had some shopping to do, and clearly the notorious penny pincher was ready to shop big. He knew exactly what he wanted and where to get it — a couple of streets over.

Scrooge would seem an unlikely poster boy for Small Business Saturday two days after Thanksgiving. But as so many people have learned since American Express started the Shop Small initiative five years ago to highlight local shopping opportunities, it is possible to do some big shopping right in the neighborhood. For some people, like Scrooge himself, a significant shift in perspective is required.

The ascendance of corporate chains, big box malls, and online shopping has shifted our retail conventions to places away — away from our ourselves, away from our communities, and, surprisingly, away from our own best interests. The hype of Black Fridays and door-buster sales conflates with our traditional predisposition for excitement at the holidays to drive us right out of our communities into a tangle of shopping carts, both real and virtual, that is a bit numbing and, frankly, a little strange.

While all this was happening, the growing economic advantages of doing business in towns like Newtown has enriched nearby shopping opportunities to the point where an initiative like Small Business Saturday isn’t just about showing a little love to the locals. It is about serious competition on value, variety, and service. And the benefits don’t stop there.

Studies from around the nation have shown the surprising benefits of shopping local. One such study conducted in Salt Lake City compared the local economic impact of shopping at mega-retailers vs the small independent businesses in the area. The inquiry found that local retailers returned 52 percent of their revenue to the local economy; national chain retailers spent just 14 percent of their revenues in the local community. For restaurants, the independent/chain differential was 79 percent to 30 percent. The study found in category after category, local independent businesses spend more on local labor, services, and goods for resale, supporting a variety of other businesses and the local job market. Of course it also benefits the local tax base, providing property tax relief for homeowners. This is the kind of deal even a Scrooge can love.

Your guide to many of the shopping opportunities at local independent businesses in Newtown and Bethel appears this week on pages A16-18. And remember, values you take home with you from these businesses won’t all be in your shopping bag.