Buy Local: Not Such a New Idea
Scott | May 13, 2012As recent DM conversations attest, it’s tough to say, “Support local business” without being accused of being an elitist more concerned with fads than with the plight of the working poor.
Of course it’s not that simple. The value of supporting your neighbors and keeping money in your own community is, historically, neither a fad nor a dalliance of the affluent. Rather, it’s been a cornerstone of survival for the working class.
Exhibit A: This catchy tune from the Reverend J.M. Gates, a 20s-era African American preacher from right here in the ATL.
What a toe-tapper! I don’t think there’s a single thing I don’t love about it, because it shows that promoting local has very little to do with elitism or trendy hipsters and almost everything to do with the basic human values of community building and survival. In short, money spent in one’s own community is like Karma. It comes back to you in other ways.
Or, in the parlance of Decatur, it’s an investment in both economic sustainability and social sustainability.
Being pro-local is not the same thing as being anti-affordable goods. It’s not an either/or proposition, especially in an urban context like Decatur’s. It’s simply an acknowledgment that, when times turn tough, chain retail (which, in our modern world, most often occupies a big box) has no allegiance to you. Your neighbors, on the other hand, do. There’s nothing wrong with doing what we can to keep those connections strong, even when our present reality makes big box shopping a necessity for a whole lot of people.
A trip to Walmart or Target is an acknowledgement of the present. Some money spent with Decatur businesses is an investment in the future. As far as I’m concerned, there’s no reason we can’t allow people the freedom to do both if they’re so inclined.
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Fascinating. I wonder which chain stores they were objecting to? McCrory’s? Woolworth’s?
Kresge’s? Anyone have any idea?
Saw an article that said A&P was one of them.
Yes, I thought of that after I posted. Sometime in the past year, there was a long article in the New Yorker about how A & P revolutionized the grocery business — bringing down prices and improving selection nationwide. Then, of course, they themselves fell victim to other trends until they disappeared. The A&P was the grocery store we went to when I was a kid ( 1950’s) in a small town in Maryland. There must have been more than one grocery, but I can’t remember going to it.
I spent a few years in the 70’s as a kid in Allentown, PA and our two main stores were A&P and Pantry Pride.
It’s simply an acknowledgment that, when times turn tough, chain retail (which, in our modern world, most often occupies a big box) has no allegiance to you.
True.
Any stores around here still give credit?
I don’t know about credit existing like it did at the local drugstore where I grew up–I could go in there and get a prescription or other necessary item and say “Put it on my Dad’s account”. And they would. And if I abused it like the time I tried putting a bunch of beauty items on the account, they’d point it out to my Dad and that was the end of that, and there you go, the system worked…..
But what does exist today is “You can make it up next time. I know you’re good for it”. There’s places that I frequent all the time that have said that when I just happened to be without or short on cash. This can only happen in small, independent establishments. It’s funny that in this techie world, we don’t use a ledger like the credit of old, just fallible human memory and good will.
The one place where credit exists in a big way is church. You make a pledge and the church has to trust that you’ll follow up. You don’t pay to enter the facilities. What a business model!
I bought a grill from Tippens Appliance on Memorial Drive a couple years ago and noticed while I was in there several people coming in to pay off their appliance purchase in cash. The man running the store took the cash, went over to a paper index, marked off the amount, and put the money in his cash drawer. No computer in sight. Loved it.
Very well put. I do my best to spend my money with independent business owners. But when I have to go to Big Box places I prefer Target over Walmart. For me the goods are better and from the little bit I know Target is more involved in the community and treats it’s employees better.
I have accidently found myself without my wallet at both the Hop and Shop and the Oakhurst Market. Both times I was told not to worry about it and to just drop by later with the money.
Do I know you? Don’t we drink together?