<p>I shop the local farmers markets. Fresh organic produce right from the farmer. What little commercial meat we purchase (DH hunts and fishes so our freezers are stocked with game meats) I purchase at a local, non-chain healthy food/grocery store. Absolutely avoid Whole Foods - 3 have moved into the county. Holy moly, how can their organic strawberries at $5.99 be any better than the same berries at TJ’s for $2.29?</p>
<p>Love the local pet/feed store. They may charge a slightly higher price but it is such a pleasant experience to shop there. The animals are well cared for and the staff is knowledgeable. We often eat at a family owned diner, great food, great selection (DS can have a bacon burger and I can order the curry stew) best clam chowder ever and…fantastic service and prices.</p>
<p>For the basics…it’s Costco and TJ’s. Places like Wal-Mart, Target etc have been kept out of the immediate area so we drive to those as needed. (ironically, it is the Costco that was so hotly resisted by our city council which now provides the largest tax base to the city) I avoid our downtown. Difficult to park, to much panhandling and frankly there are only so many $150.00 shade grown, organic hemp shirts with the face of Che Guvara sewn by indigent indigenous ppl who live in trees (that are in danger of extinction) that one is willing to purchase. ;)</p>
<p>For me, I try to shop local and try to buy American. Willing to pay a bit more to do so. Cannot do it one every item of course, but I do make an effort to do so.
I do not consider Walmart(the world’s largest retail company), Safeway or Kroger locally owned because of 401k. They are a large, successful chains, but by no definition I can think of would I call them locally owned.
Last tire purchase, for example, I purchased American made/American owned Cooper tires from a local tire dealer rather than just “any tire” from a regional or national chain.</p>
<p>I hear lots of comments about Walmart and usually they are negative. After spending most of the last year travelling around the country, I have changed my opinion. Walmart and the other big stores have certainly killed off many of the smaller stores and there are reasons: much better prices, much better selection and and quick easy shopping. The old mom and pop stores are really inefficient with resultant high costs. Sure jobs are being lost but standing around waiting for a customer is not a productive use of our human resources. Let us end the inefficent retailing system and do better things with our time.</p>
<p>“I shop the local farmers markets.” - We do too. It costs more, but it’s something we can afford and do so cheerfully. In the summer, when it’s an option ;)</p>
<p>I had an experience today that made me think twice about the value of high costs. I was out Christmas shopping and popped into Barnes and Noble to pick up a copy of “Before I Go To Sleep” for a xmas gift. It’s only out in hardback. I have it on my Kindle. When I checked out I was shocked at how high my bill was - $48. I had bought the book and some magazines. After I left the store I pulled out the receipt and saw that the book was $25.</p>
<p>I do go into B&N a few times a month to get books but they’re usually paperbacks. I order the majority of books off of Amazon or onto my Kindle. I don’t think I’ve paid more than $15 for a book in several years. It out curiosity I checked the price of this particular book and yep - it was $15 on Amazon. I turned back around and returned the book to B&N and ordered it on Amazon. It will arrive tomorrow.</p>
<p>So this got me thinking - is it worth almost twice as much to be able to go into a bricks and mortar store? I would have said yes even six months ago, now I’m not so sure. On the other hand, I do often like to thumb through non-fiction books before I buy them to get a sense if they are worth it. So maybe it is worth it to me. </p>
<p>PS. I really hate the fact that my B&N has a huge counter now as you walk into the store selling Nooks. It seems sort of tacky, if you ask me.</p>
<p>Our local Barnes and Noble is usually packed with cars (not just this time of the year) and I don’t like to go there because of the traffic and parking issues. It is far more efficient to order from Amazon and have stuff shipped to my office (we get an incredible amount of stuff from Amazon in our office). I understand that it costs them to operate a bricks and mortar shop and that they provide benefits to the community (they have story hours, provide meeting space, provide free WiFi, etc.) but it seems that they are doing quite well without me there.</p>
<p>I try to spend at least $50 a month at 4 truly local businesses. I don’t always achieve that goal, but just yesterday I dropped a wad of money on a new appliance at a local, family owned appliance store. I was in and out in 15 minutes with excellent sales service, and they will be out to install and haul away the old one on the exact date I want them to come. Sure, the appliance likely wasn’t made here, but the sales and service staff are employed here, and the profit to the store will stay in our community. I may have saved a hundred dollars or so at a big box store, but I think the service and ease of transaction was worth it.</p>
<p>Other places I spend money locally are the food co-op (some specialty items I buy there a couple of times a month that I can’t get at my supermarket – which is also a chain based in our state), restaurants, and the local fish shop. I did some Christmas shopping on the scenic mainstreet in the town near my house a couple of weeks ago – specifically decided to shop there first instead of a large mall. Did go to the mall for some items not available downtown, though. I have started buying coffee drinks (only buy a few a month) at a local coffee shop chain that is just in our city (but partly because they will make me something custom that I can’t get in the bigger coffee shops).</p>
<p>I do shop in large chain stores sometimes, but if it is equally convenient, I will usually try to give the local shop my business. I own a small business, and my dad and all my siblings are small business owners. Also, a few years ago I had to spend several weeks traveling to various cities around the US for a family emergency. It struck me then how everyplace is starting to look the same. It was depressing… one day I drove for miles in my rental car just looking for someplace to eat that was NOT a chain because it bothered me so much. </p>
<p>I won’t shop someplace local if the product or service isn’t up to par, or if the price is too outrageous, or if it is really inconvenient in some way. But all things being pretty equal, local gets my business.</p>
<p>I have been trying to do more local business shopping. There is ONE local supermarket chain left. I do try to go there quite a bit–otherwise I often go to Costco. Both are about 5 minutes from my house (in opposite directions).</p>
<p>When we go off island, we try to purchase gifts by local companies & merchants, with varying degrees of success.</p>
<p>Makes sense to me why BCEagle prefers books from Amazon than from the national chain Barnes and Noble. I wonder how Eagle feels about locally owned stores?</p>
<p>I went to Barnes and Noble to buy The Emperor of All Maladies for my daughter, who lives in NY. I chose to buy it at B&N over my beloved local book store so that she could easily exchange it. First, I was shocked by the amount of space devoted to pushing the Nook. Second, I was shocked by how much non-book related stuff they were selling: everything from gift wrap paper to Lego sets. Then I was shocked that THREE store employees had no clue what ‘The Emperor of All Maladies’ was. (Only a best selling Pulitzer winner.) They would have known at my local book store. And it wouldn’t have been hidden in some remote corner of the store behind stuffed animals like it was at B&N.</p>
<p>I actively avoid chain restaurants and spend quite a lot in locally owned restaurants here in Portland. I buy a lot of my food at a regional chain store and some of it at Whole Foods, which is national. My pet food stores are small and local and carry brands that are not available at Petco or Petsmart. I mail order some of my pet food from a small store in Nebraska but am trying to persuade my local store to carry that brand. (One of my dogs has IBD and allergies and that particular food is great for her, for some reason.)</p>
<p>I have very mixed feelings about “buy local”. All brick-and-mortar stores have local employees; whether the profits stay local or go somewhere else is more relevant. That said, we own several businesses that employ local, profits stay local, but we take orders and ship orders all over the country. I’d hate for our customers–most of whom are not local–to go to their local store instead of shopping with us! We are a small business; we pride ourselves on our services; we treat our employees exceptionally well (most employers in our market areas do not provide health insurance, for example; we do).</p>
<p>I guess I’d come down on the side of changing the question: whereever you shop, ask yourself these questions: are the employees paid a living wage in their community? do they get health insurance and reasonable sick time off? what are the profits used for? do they grow the business or are they used to pay outrageous CEO salaries? what are the employee-to-management pay ratios?</p>
<p>When we lived in Seattle, Costco, Amazon, and Starbucks were all locally-owned chains; I had no problem shopping there, because I knew people who worked for all three companies. Now that I’m in Portland, I continue to shop at all three, but I prefer, as much as possible, to get my coffee at the coffeeshop on the corner and buy used books from Powell’s (whenever feasible)–but I still buy bulk TP at Costco.</p>
<p>Katliamom, I don’t have a problem with Barnes & noble selling other stuff if that is what they feel it takes to keep in business. But even before ebooks, I wasn’t impressed with the knowledge of their staff. Imagine a children’s dept clerk who didn’t know who Maurice Sendak was!</p>
<p>Here is what I do. I grew up in a small resort town filled with locally owned stores. Every locally owned store paid minimum wage to staff and provided no benefits, yet charged exorbitantly high prices because they sold stuff to tourists. When Wal-mart came to town, everyone cheered them because their pay and benefits were better than the locally owned stores that were fun to shop at.</p>
<p>So, I do shop at Wal-mart. They have the lowest prices, and I generally like the quality of their stuff. It works and it doesn’t break on me, and it’s inexpensive. The prices of groceries are sometimes 1/2 of that at Safeway, and I don’t see how shopping at Safeway adds value to me.</p>
<p>But I’ve also never viewed myself as someone whose purpose is to help keep the economic wheels turning…</p>
<p>Probably the biggest reason I shop at Wal-Mart is time. My wife or I can go there and get auto supplies, cleaning supplies (for cheap), light bulbs, prescriptions, and groceries all in the same trip, and I have confidence that I am getting the price in town. If I tried shopping locally, I’d have to make 5 or 6 stops and it’d take 4 times longer.</p>
<p>I would certainly shop at local stores, afterall, the local economy is the basis of our home value. But, I won’t pay absorbent price for some thing I can buy at the big box. For example, I had a need of a 2x4 wood strip for a small job. I went to a local store thinking I should support it which is only 2 miles from my house. The price was not posted and I just grab it. at the checkout I notice it was $8, but I paid it anyway. While going through Home Depot the other day, I notice the same strip was priced at around $2. Now that is absorbent. Home Depot is only 4.5 miles from my house.</p>
<p>I do both. Like Ebeeee I live in a tourist town but one that is a bit larger. No Target or Walmart or Toys R US without a 45 minute drive each direction. Grocery stores are mostly chains. I do spend more shopping at Gelson’s which is a smaller chain. I do that mainly due to selection and quality of their chicken. Plus they have helpful nice staff.
I love my local bookstore. It is the one remaining large bookstore in town. Barnes and Noble and Borders have all shut down. I love that the staff knows books and they gift wrap for free. It has been crowded the last few weeks and I am happy that people are supporting them. Granted if I want a new best seller I buy it at Costco. I have a Kindle that I only use when I travel.
When we eat out we go local.
We do have a Costco. I admit to shopping there. I figure it must be a good place to work since the staff stays constant and they are helpful and happy. We buy appliances local but do hit Home Depot and OSH for other items. For nursery plants I do both local and Home Depot.
For clothing I admit I shop the internet and chain stores due to price. I have a sibling who had a local store in the Bay area of Ca. She did well for awhile but shut down about a year ago. She carried goods that were not readily available at the large department store but the rise of internet sites such as Gilt and Rue La La hit her business hard.</p>
<p>I support the cheapest prices and the fastest times. I will not stay in line to fill my car with the cheapest gas. I will do it at place that does not have lines. So, here I go, we shop at Costco because it is cheap, it has many products that other stores do not have in our area, and it is very fast. I do not fill my car at Costco, because there are always lines since they have the cheapest gas. I hate shopping anyway and delegate to my H. as much as possible. We go to Costco together because we love the store and love to have food samples.</p>