Supporting Local 1

Supporting local

Do you support local or stay with the big box stores?

So today being #SmallBusinessSaturday I walk into this one store and had an incredible experience. Beautiful store, tons of cool items, many #local and handmade items, and the service was exceptional.

Those big box stores (even though I know some are run locally) are usually filled with cheap items on sale that will break without much use, they’re cheap in price and quality, they’re made from somewhere around the world in likely difficult living conditions. And don’t get me wrong I support some of these and know owners that do their best to offer quality service and a service that’s hard to find otherwise. What I’m saying here is MOST of the time, those big stores have little customer service if any. Their main goal is to produce sales and that’s it.

When we buy from small mom and pop stores we’re usually supporting an individual with a family, we’re supporting our neighbour, the same one that sends their child to the same school as we do. Often products are handmade or made locally, customer service is usually much better (or should be) and it’s normally coming from people that actually care about you, not just the business.

It always shocks me when I hear other small business owners talking about the cheapest whatever, wherever it is. Meanwhile we run quality businesses, where the price may be a little higher because we don’t move the volume it takes to have such low prices. On top of that we may pay more or treat our employees better, maybe we care more for the customer and offer quality customer service. So of course the cost of products or services are more. But there we are (as business owners) looking for the cheapest product, for the biggest sale, and even though we depend on local sales ourselves we look to purchase from the biggest store there is who has the best prices….no matter what.

There are so many benefits to supporting local, it not only improves our local economy but you also improve the quality of life for small owners that has likely worked years just to get off the ground. Sure you might pay a little more but if you’re looking for quality, something that’s not going to break, from someone who cares, why not?

Why do we look to cheap products that easily break and fill our landfills just so we can save a couple bucks? There are tons of great places to shop locally, now that Christmas is coming there will be tons of sales everywhere and cheap items easily accessible online.

Why not try just a little to buy locally, maybe not everything, how about starting with a few, how about visiting a shop you normally wouldn’t? How about spending just a little more, for that much more quality? How about putting a smile on your neighbors face instead of adding to the piggy bank of a corporation who’ll never know you supported them?

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