Instead of passively bearing witness to the horror that is Black Friday, actively participate in Plaid Friday—the national initiative to support local and independent businesses on November 25th.

BLACK FRIDAY. The dread of every good and decent human being.

Every year it strikes when we are at our most stuffed, hungover and vulnerable, assaulting our psyches with sad, sordid stories of pensioners getting curb-stomped for Blue Ray players, leaving us with a little bit less faith in our fellow man, woman and otherwise than we had the year before.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Instead of passively bearing witness to the horror that is Black Friday,

actively participate in Plaid Friday—the national initiative to support local and independent businesses on November 25th.

Plaid Friday is more than just Black Friday that lets you borrow its lighter and tells you if you got something in your teeth—Plaid Friday is an outright rejection of everything that Black Friday, with its lizard-brained, shove, scratch and scramble excess, represents. Plaid Friday is a reminder of the central role that commerce could and should play in our communities. Plaid Friday is deciding that our hard-earned dollars should go into those local and independent businesses that worked just as hard to give us the best possible selection of sustainable, conscientious, quality products.

They’ve earned them.

So, in the spirit of Plaid Friday, the Dig has put together a series of walking tours—great neighborhoods, and the great neighborhood shops that are an important part in making those neighborhoods so damn great. This is not intended as a comprehensive list, just a few suggestions to give you a leisurely lead on your Holiday shopping.

So, while the rest of the world shivs each other in order to save a few bucks on the same cheap plastic crap, you’ll be catching up with your friends and neighbors, (maybe even flirting a bit with the cute cheesemonger), and taking your pick from good that are really, well and truly, good.

With your patronage, we can ensure that the Mom and Pops, the Corner Stores, the local and the independent, aren’t going anywhere.

So, hey, take your time. Hell, hold the door, whydontcha?

What’s That Little (A) Mean?

Shoppes that are marked with that little bracketed alpha are participating in the brand-spanking new Access program, brought to you by the fine folks behind Spreedia.com and New Brahmin.

As a way to encourage you to keep stickin’ it to the Big Box all year round, this little number will automatically knock 10 percent off of fully priced merch at these fine establishments, as well as getting your name on the list for special promos and events.