We talk a lot on our Facebook page about "spending where it means more" - AKA, choosing carefully who we give our dollars to - and the importance of daily choices cannot be overstated. There's a tendency to drift towards easy or convenient options, such as pulling off the interstate on a road trip and turning directly into the closest fast food location, as opposed to looking for a small deli a mile down the road, but fortunately we do have the power to make better choices. 😀
Robotic behavior is what comes to mind, to be honest; the predictable actions of humans following big-name brand signage seems almost too ant-like for me, and such choices are, in many ways, shrinking our lives down to only the brands we know. That's kind of a sterile world, isn't it? 🤔
Making the effort to acknowledge, notice, and spend with our nearby possibilities, many of them owned and run by folks we know, has far-reaching benefits which trickle down into the roots of a neighborhood. From streetlights to public water lines, police and fire departments to schools, the daily operations of a town or city are unsustainable without tax revenue, business licenses or financial activity, making our choices literally, the fuel for economic growth.
Personally, I've come to dislike - no, borderline hate - the term "Shop local"......why? It feels flat, played out and overused, sending a stale message that unless we all spend compulsively on "things", small town America is going to vanish. In reality, it is all of our combined actions - decisions made multiple times each day - which will either build or break a community. Check out a few of our suggestions below for thoughtful ways to spend better!
- buying gift cards to an independent coffee shop for employees at the holidays
- passes to the family-owned amusement complex
- tickets to the locally-owned movie theatre which STILL - after 50+ years - offers the same small town cinema experience
- asking a neighbor for a recommendation to find a quality company for your plumbing needs, HVAC, auto repairs
- taking out of town visitors to real places which offer an authentic flavor of your culture or local history
- making a trip to a farmers market with the family
- saying "Hey, we know of this great place for karaoke and drinks on Saturday night" instead of a chain
My feeling has always been that "being local" is a lot of different things, but there is a common thread which runs through activity centered around "buying better"; no matter where you live, recycling more dollars back into the local economy is a winning strategy.
Choose better. Spend with independently-owned businesses
(and real people!) where you live. Follow "Live Local USA" on
