Photos: Local stores don't depend on just one big day in the holiday season

Nobody mobbed local stores today. There were no big sales. It was pretty much business as usual, and the shop owners we spoke with said business was pretty good.

"Black Friday is really about the big box stores," said Erica Caldwell, owner of Present Tense Books. "Our big weekend was our holiday open house last weekend."

The Christmas shopping season is still important to Present Tense, Caldwell said. There will be a lot of presents bought in the store, but no one-day big event will drive sales.

It's the same at Valle Jewelers where Mary Valle said so far they've sold one Christmas present. The rest of the sales -- and sales have been good of late, she said -- have been for birthdays, weddings and anniversaries.

Neither Caldwell nor Valle have big expectations for the nationally promoted "shop local" effort scheduled for Saturday.

"I'm curious to see if it has an impact," Valle said.

When you are ready to shop local this holiday season, check out the list of sponsors of The Batavian in the left rail (or just look at the ads on the page). There's a ton of great gifts to be found at local shops and a gift certificate from a local restaurant makes a great stocking stuffer.