Because of family obligations and travel, I rarely have the opportunity to take advantage of Shop Small Saturday which happens right after Thanksgiving. This year, because of COVID restrictions, we didn't travel or see family that weekend which gave me the chance to finally visit our main street/local businesses to celebrate this day. As I walked around our town square, which is quite small but filled with a half dozen specialty shops, I realized that there are some really unique gift ideas that I wouldn't find on Amazon or in Target or Walmart. This day kind of opened my eyes to the opportunities of shopping in my own town.
I have always been an advocate of shopping local. I visit my local comic and game store a few times a month. I shop at our local bike shop 4-5 times a year. The people who run those businesses are wonderful people, and they advocate for industry respectively. I hang out with a community of comic readers, tabletop gamers, and cyclists. I even pick up a gourmet coffee from our local coffee shop from time to time. A group of local businesses that I don't often think of is the great restaurants that are owned by local entrepreneurs. But, that Saturday opened my eyes to a new group of businesses of unique gifts, housewares, gourmet popcorn and ice cream, and jewelry. These are people who chose our town to build their businesses. They pay taxes, rent or own the buildings in which they do business. Often the buildings they call home are buildings that already exist in our communities and they don't take extra resources or land to do business. In fact, the businesses on our square occupy buildings that are likely over 100 years old. As I was shopping around with my daughters they were mesmerized at the squeaky wooden floors. They both thought the little rooms and tight narrow buildings were so cool and unique. It gave them a nostalgic feel even though they didn't know what the feeling was they were experiencing. They even found some nice, very reasonably priced (under $5) gifts for friends!
I did a quick little search on the web for some shopping local stats and found some on the shopping local advocacy site, Independent We Stand. When we spend $100 at a local business, $68 stays in the community, whereas, when we spend that much at a chain store, $43 dollars return to the community. These independent businesses hire local, pay local taxes, they also shop in our community too. They often support our schools and summer sports and camps. We might even go to church with the people who own the local businesses.
I am a little late advocating for local businesses for the holidays, but I am just in time to remind all of us as we start a new year, a year where many of these businesses have struggled through the pandemic like the rest of us, to start shopping local. Spend the extra $3 on earrings or the extra $7 on a game or book, or the extra $25 on a new bike to support your local retailer. Or, as my daughters found, the prices were the same or even cheaper than a similar product we might find at a box store! This year when you are in need of that unique gift, or bike repair, the chain store retailers will still have the same earring you bought last year. Box stores don't repair or properly fit you to your bike. Your chain store doesn't special order or know when the new book comes out to tell you about it. Basically, it comes down to the customer service. The local retailers know who we are.
Drive around your community and look for those little shops along the streets you drive every day. Do you pass a local barber or hairstylist on your way to the quick-cut national chain? Do you pass the small coffee shop to get to the national coffee chain? On Friday night do you pass the local restaurants to find the national chain that has the same burger and fries you had last week? Have you ever wished there was a local record shop or a local specialty grocery, or a local hobby shop? This is the start! When a community supports its local retailers, it gains the attention of those who want to start, expand, and grow a business.
I get it, sometimes it is better on the wallet to save a buck; it is easier to shop online in comfy pajamas on a Friday night; it is faster to drive through a quick burger place. But if we can change 10 to 20 percent of our purchases to from a national chain to someone local, that would make a huge difference on their businesses, but also on the resources of our community. Plus, when we start seeing our community business owners more often and we shop with our neighbors, it gives us more people to wave to as we walk our neighborhoods or wait at the stoplight. Let's see what we can do to support our local friends who took a risk to open a business to better us and our communities.
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