Keep it Local
Local is what is happening around you. Local is where life happens.
Much of that life is spent working, and for a lot of people that means depending on others (like you) coming to visit their shop or sharing about their new venture with someone who would appreciate it. As Lindsey at LemonHearted stated so well of Orlando in her post ahead of Small Business Saturday last year,
Beyond the towering structures of theme parks, and past the line of Amazon trucks you’ll see on every street, lies unique shops and boutiques, each with its own story and passion, owned by someone who is your neighbor.
Lindsey @ LemonHearted, from Shop Small, Eat Local post
Even in the city of endless theme parks, there are small businesses owned by neighbors who need us to shop with them to stay open.
Why bother though? Does it help? We could simply never leave the house, buy indiscriminately from the 2-day shipping behemoth, content with every once in a while shouting a haphazard “thank you!” to our local delivery driver (who we suspect, if we stopped and thought about it, could at any time be unceremoniously dumped from his job without notice) and call it a day.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve done this. It’s very easy to stay here, let someone else “be the change”. But we would do well to remember what happens to our local areas when our money goes to corporate entities and the lowest bidder. Those areas wither and die like a neglected love fern.
Now I’ll caveat that there are many reasons that businesses fail and towns fade away. I don’t know the particular situation in Valdosta, Georgia but we recently drove through their main streets on a random weekday and it was striking how empty it looked and felt despite a lovely historic section. The occasional boutique or eatery surrounded by empty buildings.
On the digital side, it has become a regular occurrence to see desperate pleas on a certain photo-based social media site (bought by your friendly neighborhood soulless tech giant) from all manner of small businesses informing viewers that their posts & even paid ads reach fewer people all the time, so they don’t know how long they can stay afloat.
It’s not just consumer goods, either. The mess that is the absolute state of insurance right now drove my favorite medical provider out of business despite the high demand for her services in an under-served area. That topic is a whole can of worms though, so I’ll not address it here.
So is handmade, like, dead then?
Far from it. It just may take a little more effort to see it and the discipline to reach past many distracting & deceptive conveniences.
Let’s take the examples above. Look closer and you’ll see:
- a comprehensive guide to local businesses in Orlando
- shops are still open in Valdosta
- all manner of small businesses using FB and IG
Hope is not lost, even in less than ideal conditions. Efforts to maintain the human touch are still visible if you look around. In Stillwater, MN, for example:
What was for 50 years deemed “Trash Alley”, this eyesore is now dotted with murals people want to spend time around. Though I do wonder what those alley-connected businesses do with all their trash now.
We see this with food & drink too. In NE Minneapolis, where there was once a microbrewery that gave its all, there is now hard Kombucha. Frogger across the very busy street, if you dare, and you’ll be treated to the best local hot dogs one could ask for at Uncle Franky’s.
I hear they have wings, now too, which is great, because that one bison-themed national chain has really gone downhill in recent years.
Speaking of wings, if you are ever in Naples, Florida, do yourself a favor and go get the wings at Low Brow (their pizza is delicious too and they have local beers). Truly, I have never had better. They are worth whatever price they have to charge to keep making them. I miss them sometimes when I’m hungry 😋
Back on topic, where I live now in the Tampa Area, Maker’s Markets are beginning to pop up again, often as part of city revitalization projects. Nearby Bradenton, Florida hosts The Friendly City Flea, in order to “…bring together Bradenton’s creative community, jumpstart our city’s indie lifestyle, and support the small businesses that make up our city.”
Foster community. Bring creatives together. Support local business. All good things that make a place worth living in or visiting. And you know, not becoming a ghost town. Looks like Valdosta is hosting one this year too 🙌. Maybe this will usher in a new chapter for them?
Other formats are enabling makers too — places like the Maker & Merchant help lower the barrier to entry for small shops to have retail space. These kind of pop-ups were one of my favorites to peruse at The Mall of America back in the day amidst the big box retailers. Of course, if a maker has a website of their own or a subscription site like Patreon, you can help them out by buying from them directly, engaging in their social content, telling friends about them, and supporting their channels. That’s where this series comes in.
It is my hope to regularly bring examples of creative work made with love and care to offset the TEMU-ification of online shopping if only a little bit. Let’s see what else is going on beyond the big box stores, the big tech algorithms and the vampiric marketplaces. Like this Main Street scented wax melt — from a little allergy-free clean fragrance candle shop called Canarie — which I can only imagine smells like waffle cones.
You can help
- Do one thing this week to support small makers. If you can’t spare the money, help in a different way, like talking about them to friends and relatives, leaving comments on their social media.
Thanks for being here. Let’s keep those little shops alive.
- Kait