When Greater Shelby County Chamber of Commerce President Kirk Mancer realized that 70 percent of his organization’s membership could be considered small businesses, the next step seemed apparent to him.

He immediately started working with the Chamber’s small business task force to plan the organization’s inaugural small business owners of the year award luncheon, which took place last week on May 22.

This was an excellent move by Mancer and other Chamber officials. While we all love to see big stores and chains come to Shelby County, the majority of businesses here are small businesses owned and operated by local business owners and supported by county residents.

When a small business owner gives excellent service, that’s a big boon for Shelby County. Each county municipality’s small businesses add to the charm of the county as a whole, and we appreciate all the hard work and long hours that go into making each small business a success.

We urge our readers to patronize their local businesses. While small business owners and employees work as hard as possible to provide personalized service and great products, it’s up to potential customers to take advantage of what small businesses have to offer by supporting those businesses with foot traffic and dollars.

Those great small businesses deserve all the accolades they get. We agree totally with Mancer, who said of the awards luncheon: “It behooves us to recognize what small businesses mean to Shelby County. This is a small way for us to start doing that.”

The inaugural small business owners of the year award luncheon honored 21 nominees for the award. We congratulate those 21 business owners for their nominations and thank them for their hard work to bring needed services to Shelby County.

We hope to see them all nominated again next year, and hope to see many more small businesses join them in getting their due.

The We Say is the opinion of the Shelby County Reporter editorial board.