Post Holiday Thoughts, Questions and Musings from Live Local USA

I'm trying to catch up here so please excuse the randomness of this post. It's been a crazy week and honestly I'm just thankful to have made it through Christmas. It's a time of the year that can be pretty tough for some of us - as I'm sure many of you know.

Holiday Choices "the Nuts and Bolts of Savvy Seasonal Spending"

Small businesses have been described in a multitude of ways, as different facets of a location, and explained in a variety of terms. Personally, I like the option which illustrates them as the pulse of a community; a vibrant force operating and thriving throughout the streets and buildings of a place where people live, work and play.

Support Your Independent Brewery | Celebrating Local Beer

I wholeheartedly believe in "living local" and making a targeted effort to visit and spend at unique family-owned and operated businesses and companies. Not only does this choice helps to recirculate more money back into the economy right where we live, there's an immeasurable benefit to knowing the people who make up the community that you call home. While we so often focus our attention on the dedicated mom and pop retailers, long-time local restaurants and indie shops of all kinds, we'd want to also focus on the beverage category.

Back To Basics | "Why Local Businesses Matter" in Black and White

It's Labor Day weekend '18 and I'm trying to come up with something inspiring to post - something timely which might fit in with the holiday theme about the American worker, people dedicated to a passion such as their small businesses we love so much. I'm struggling for unique words to explain why local choices are better or perhaps find a different way to illustrate the importance of small businesses and mom and pop-run establishments.

Maybe what I need isn't going to be found or identified as "new material" but perhaps a better angle or platform with which to reach people. I believe there are others out there who share these views and a love of the independent businesses of America - there must be folks who would want to join this cause and help spread the word, right? Surely I'm not the only one who feels this way?

Is It REALLY That Difficult To Keep Our Independent Businesses Around?

This is hard to post, and last night it was tough to read and digest the article "As a decades-old school supply store shuts down, local owners say they're facing shifts in retail, education". If I'm seeing is simply failure on the part of the schools to make one extra step to purchase locally, that's a huge problem. When did it get so hard to make the effort to spend in our own communities? Why is it always too hard to make the extra effort - to take one more step and keep a local business in place? (photo via WRAL.com)