As I sit here on my couch looking at all the amazon boxes I wonder how small specialty stores are going to survive? We are all so busy, I would love the time to go look for some original gift unique to the person I am giving to, but I just don’t have that kind of time. So I look online in between meetings until I see something or maybe I look at the wish list my family created and I click a few times and it shows up on my door a few days later. It is super easy, I don’t have to drive to the trendy part of town try to find a parking spot, then figure out how to use my credit card to pay for an hour of parking before I can even look for a gift.  Even when I am buying local it is usually at some giant box store chain, which sent me an online coupon for 20 to 30 percent off. Yes, what I bought everybody is only unique to about 30 million others who purchased it this year, but I can’t see how to fit anything else in. I know there are smart people running a lot of small stores with wonderful things not found anywhere else. I am just not sure that uniqueness and smarts are enough anymore to help them thrive. I hope I am wrong and you all went to those stores this season, but based on the online order numbers, I think we all are in the same boat and that doesn’t bode well for the local store.