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Yelp’s Top 20 Cities for Local Holiday Shopping in 2017



Whether you’re guilty of gifting your sister-in-law the same Yankee candle now five years in a row, or you’ve earned a reputation as the most thoughtful secret Santa at the office holiday party, Yelp is here to help fuel your creativity and make you the most amazing local gift giver around this holiday season. Check out our top 20 cities to shop local to start planning your local shopping spree.

A recent Yelp-commissioned survey conducted online by Harris Poll among over 2,000 U.S. adults found that nearly 150 million Americans are likely to shop at local independent businesses this holiday season*, and together, all of these holiday shoppers** plan to spend nearly $40 billion at local independent businesses*** this holiday season. In fact, by the end of Small Business Saturday (November 26th) more than half of Americans (55%) will have started their holiday shopping.

So, where is all of this shopping happening? We looked through Yelp’s 142 million reviews to find which cities in the U.S. are the best for finding gifts at local businesses this holiday season.

First, we found the types of businesses that are most popular during the holiday shopping season: the shopping and food categories for which searches spiked the most between Thanksgiving and Christmas in 2016. Then, we found the cities with the highest ratings for businesses in those categories, counting only reviews that are gift-related: those containing the words “gift,” “present,” “holiday,” “Christmas,” “Hanukkah” and “Kwanzaa.” We set a limit of no more than two cities per state and no more than one per metro area.

Did your city make the list?

Need a little holiday inspiration? Click on each of our top 20 cities below to unveil our Yelp Community Managers’ top picks for local shopping in each city. From cards and stationery to craft beer, home decor, and tasty treats, everything’s better (and earns you more thoughtfulness points!) coming from a local business.

  1. San Francisco, CA
  2. Seattle, WA
  3. Chicago, IL
  4. Portland, OR
  5. Austin, TX
  6. Philadelphia, PA
  7. Denver, CO
  8. Louisville, KY
  9. Honolulu, HI
  10. Cambridge, MA
  11. Detroit, MI
  12. Reno, NV
  13. Oklahoma City, OK
  14. Indianapolis, IN
  15. Minneapolis, MN
  16. Phoenix, AZ
  17. Jersey City, NJ
  18. Saint Louis, MO
  19. Milwaukee, WI
  20. Dallas, TX

*Based on 234.6 million American adults (according to US 2010 Census) multiplied by 63% of Americans likely to shop local this holiday season = 147,798,000 Americans

**Holiday shoppers refers to those who will shop for gifts this holiday season and are likely to shop local

***Based on 234.6 million American adults (according to US 2010 Census) multiplied by 63% of Americans likely to shop local this holiday season multiplied by average spend of $267.20 = $39,491,625,600

Survey Methodology: The survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Poll on behalf of Yelp from September 26-28, 2017 among 2,261 U.S. adults ages 18 and older among whom 1,941 will shop for gifts this holiday season. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables, please contact press@yelp.com.

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