How many of you shop at small businesses for everyday needs?

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In Asheville, you get knocked if you don't support small businesses :) . But I don't care about the knocking. I go to a small motorcycle parts store because most of the time here prices are within reason and I get attention from her that I don't get from the sales area (service dept. is fine for me) of the large bike shop here.

Smaller businesses here tend to charge more simply because they can't do the volume buying of bigger stores. But the bike shop often charges less for big items and more (so what) for smaller items.

I try like heck to support the smaller business (new health food store - a real one ...) opened up and I'm doing what I can to give them a chance. I'll continue going until the end of this month but if they can't get their act together, I'm not sure what I'll do. I am making not only my concerns known but my friends' as well.
 
SBirn said:
In Asheville, you get knocked if you don't support small businesses :) . But I don't care about the knocking. I go to a small motorcycle parts store because most of the time here prices are within reason and I get attention from her that I don't get from the sales area (service dept. is fine for me) of the large bike shop here.

Smaller businesses here tend to charge more simply because they can't do the volume buying of bigger stores. But the bike shop often charges less for big items and more (so what) for smaller items.

I try like heck to support the smaller business (new health food store - a real one ...) opened up and I'm doing what I can to give them a chance. I'll continue going until the end of this month but if they can't get their act together, I'm not sure what I'll do. I am making not only my concerns known but my friends' as well.
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We have a natural food store and I am not about to pay $ 2.00 for one tomato or $3.00 for a head of lettuce.
 
Hey, hey, hey Chicago. What's wrong with just the two of us laughin' at the humer?
 
whatdidyousay! said:
We have a natural food store and I am not about to pay $ 2.00 for one tomato or $3.00 for a head of lettuce.
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I don't either. But I will pay .87 cents/lb or .99 cents/lb at the new place for organic bananas. I also look for sales. I go to the supermarket and on sale pay $2.00/bag for organic frozen vegs. instead of $2.87ish. Tomatoes - I never pay that much. I look for sales and get them at a reasonable price. Often they're as cheap as at the supermarket - I just look and I know the prices.

Our alternative, and I do have a box of non-organic salad in the fridge is to buy duh ... non organic stuff with Round-up and other heavy duty pesticides in it. I obviously do both.

The other thing we don't know is what's in seeds that's added so when the fruits and vegs. flowers, new seeds aren't created (the natural way). Ugh.
 
SBirn said:
Hey, hey, hey Chicago. What's wrong with just the two of us laughin' at the humer?
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Me, laughing? Not when ambrosia thinks I'm from another planet or I came out from under a rock. I see no reason to laugh if she thinks I'm from another planet. That's why I'm not bothering to answer here.
 
shel90 said:
I went to a flea market in a quaint neighborhood near DC and browsed through the small stores for shoes, jewelery, and clothes. I was dismayed to discover that the prices were out of my range. They charge way too much for simple items.
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they charge high because they will end up selling it at lowered price.
 
ambrosia said:
The only people who can afford to shop exclusively at small businesses are people with a lot disposable income. Especially if you're talking clothes, those tend to be boutiques with designer labels and are extremely expensive.

It's actually almost a vicious cycle. Walmart and their ilk are almost the new factory jobs. We manufacture very little any more, so stores such as Walmart become the next best bet for employment for people with no higher education, besides restaurants. But add to that stores like that are the only affordable places for then to shop. Also, just think of how many people Walmart Kmart and target employ. Imagine what would happen if everybody boycotted them. Not that that's feasible considering the large amount if people that those places are the only affordable places to shop. But hypothetically, if nobody shopped there and we put them out of business just think what would happen to unemployment.
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not really. as long as ya'all keep supporting small businesses... the price will gets cheaper.

and in long-term sense.... by supporting fat cats... your medical bills will grow and grow from eating these GMO junks.
 
ChicagoBlue2 said:
Me, laughing? Not when ambrosia thinks I'm from another planet or I came out from under a rock. I see no reason to laugh if she thinks I'm from another planet. That's why I'm not bothering to answer here.
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Understood and I'm glad you and Ambrosia worked it out. Man, the wind in Chicago is horrible. Maybe you should move to Asheville except, there aren't too many jobs here... at least it's warmer and we have a lot of good beer microbreweries (and a pint may run $3-5). Food's good but I liked the place near the Lincoln Park Zoo where you could get a 1 lbs upside down pizza (ingredients in a bowl and dough on top).
 
ChicagoBlue2 said:
I do it a lot; the prices are cheaper, and plus, I don't have to go far to get what I need. Plus, if I need more than one of the item, I can get a bunch of the same item at these businesses. It's a good way to maximize what I can use.
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-I buy some stuffs and gears from "Made in America" businesses but mostly from amazon.com
-I buy foods at Whole Food and Trader Joe. some food I buy from there came from locals
-I buy pizza from locals. it's delicious and it's fantastic!
-in NYC, I eat mostly at local places... none of these disgusting chain restaurants.

I used to buy some tools and supplies from my local hardware store but I'm very sad to see it gone. he's retired but good for him... he had been here for a very very long time and he's finally retired. he's probably fishing somewhere warm. a couple years ago - I was surprised to see him back and working in a short time after he got a stroke that crippled his entire left side.

and plus... by continuing to go local... they know me and I know them... and they do give me freebies or discounts sometimes. I saved some money in a way... and I actually learn MORE about what I'm buying and what goes into it.

good luck and have fun with your "Made in China" stuff laced with banned chemicals (not you but general you)
 
Buying Local: How It Boosts the Economy - TIME
"Buy Local"—you see the decal in the store window, the sign at the farmer's market, the bright, cheerful logos for Local First Arizona, Think Boise First, Our Milwaukee, and homegrown versions across the states. The apparent message is "let's-support-local-business", a kind of community boosterism. But buying close to home may be more than a feel-good, it's-worth-paying-more-for-local matter. A number of researchers and organizations are taking a closer look at how money flows, and what they're finding shows the profound economic impact of keeping money in town—and how the fate of many communities around the nation and the world increasingly depend on it.

At the most basic level, when you buy local more money stays in the community. The New Economics Foundation, an independent economic think tank based in London, compared what happens when people buy produce at a supermarket vs. a local farmer's market or community supported agriculture (CSA) program and found that twice the money stayed in the community when folks bought locally. "That means those purchases are twice as efficient in terms of keeping the local economy alive," says author and NEF researcher David Boyle. (See the top 10 food trends of 2008.)

Indeed, says Boyle, many local economies are languishing not because too little cash comes in, but as a result of what happens to that money. "Money is like blood. It needs to keep moving around to keep the economy going," he says, noting that when money is spent elsewhere—at big supermarkets, non-locally owned utilities and other services such as on-line retailers—"it flows out, like a wound." By shopping at the corner store instead of the big box, consumers keep their communities from becoming what the NEF calls "ghost towns" (areas devoid of neighborhood shops and services) or "clone towns", where Main Street now looks like every other Main Street with the same fast-food and retail chains.

According to Susan Witt, Executive Director of the E.F. Schumacher Society, "buy local" campaigns serve another function: alerting a community about gaps in the local market. For instance, if consumers keep turning to on-line or big-box stores for a particular product—say, socks—this signals an opportunity for someone local to make and sell socks. This is the way product innovations get made, says Witt. "The local producer adds creative elements that make either the product or materials used more appropriate to the place." For example, an area where sheep are raised might make lambs wool socks and other goods.

The point is not that communities should suddenly seek to be self-sufficient in all ways, but rather, says Boyle, "to shift the balance. Can you produce more locally? Of course you can if the raw materials are there, and the raw materials are often human beings."

And what about that higher cost of local goods? After all, big-box stores got to be big because their prices are low. Susan Witt says that the difference falls away once you consider the increase in local employment as well as the relationships that grow when people buy from people they know. (Plus, one could argue, lower transportation, and therefore environmental, costs, and you know what you're getting—which as we've recently seen with suspected contamination in toys and other products from China, can be a concern.)

There's also the matter of local/regional resilience. Says Witt: "While now we're largely a service-providing nation, we're still just a generation away from being a nation of producers. The question is: what economic framework will help us reclaim those skills and that potential." Say, for example, the exchange rates change or the price of oil rises (and it has started to creep up, if not at last summer's pace) so that foreign-made goods are no longer cheap to import. We could find ourselves doubly stuck because domestic manufacturing is no longer set up to make all these products. While no community functions in isolation, supporting local trade helps "recreate the diversity of small businesses that are flexible and can adjust" to changing needs and market conditions, says Witt. (Read "How to Know When the Economy Is Turning Up.")

Another argument for buying local is that it enhances the "velocity" of money, or circulation speed, in the area. The idea is that if currency circulates more quickly, the money passes through more hands—and more people have had the benefit of the money and what it has purchased for them. "If you're buying local and not at a chain or branch store, chances are that store is not making a huge profit," says David Morris, Vice President of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, a nonprofit economic research and development organization based in Minneapolis and Washington, D.C. "That means more goes into input costs—supplies and upkeep, printing, advertising, paying employees—which puts that money right back in the community."

One way to really make sure money stays in the community is through creating a local currency. Christian Gelleri, a former Waldorf high school teacher in the Lake Chiem area in Germany, has launched a regional currency, the Chiemgauer, equivalent in value to the Euro. According to Gelleri, the Chiemgauer, accepted at more than 600 businesses in the region and with about $3,000,000 Euros worth in circulation, has three times the velocity of the Euro, circling through the economy an average of 18 times a year as opposed to 6. One reason for the fast turnaround is that the Chiemgauer is designed to encourage spending: there is a 2% demurrage fee for holding onto the bills beyond three months.

As an economic principle, velocity has been considered a constant. According to Gelleri, it was stable in the 1950s, '60s, and '70s but starting in the '80s velocity has decreased as more money has been diverted to the financial sector. This scenario may benefit financial centers, but money tends to drain away from other places. Gelleri says that both the Euro and the U.S. dollar have slowed way down. "In the last several months velocity has declined sharply because there's less GDP and more money," he says. "The money doesn't flow. More money is being printed, but it's not going into circulation."

As the nation limps through the recession, many towns and cities are hurting. "Buy-local" campaigns can help local economies withstand the downturn. Says Boyle: "For communities, this is a hopeful message in a recession because it's not about how much money you've got, but how much you can keep circulating without letting it leak out."
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I have been to Walmart. There are a few things I buy there. Auto products are the right price. Oil, filters, and the like. The clothing is mostly garbage except the long sleeve t-shirts and cotton socks, and boxer briefs. The food sucks. It is overpriced often refrigerated items will have thawed and refrozen or rerefrigerated giving a huge bacteria bonus. Milk is higher there than anywhere but a gas station. The produce is mostly overpriced garbage produce from Guatemala and Mexico.
I buy a few electronic items there.
Their guns and ammo are overpriced. We have better priced guns at all the other grocery stores.
Costco and Sams Club they have some good deals but really much of it is ripoff pricing as well.
I watch for bargains at smaller stores and avoid the big boxes whenever I can. Often you can make your own bargains at the mom and pop places.
They do not stay in business by being stupid. Still I end up in big boxes as part of the overall plan to get good deals. I am just careful about it, they are not a good deal at all if you do everything there.
 
Jiro said:
-I buy some stuffs and gears from "Made in America" businesses but mostly from amazon.com
-I buy foods at Whole Food and Trader Joe. some food I buy from there came from locals
-I buy pizza from locals. it's delicious and it's fantastic!
-in NYC, I eat mostly at local places... none of these disgusting chain restaurants.

I used to buy some tools and supplies from my local hardware store but I'm very sad to see it gone. he's retired but good for him... he had been here for a very very long time and he's finally retired. he's probably fishing somewhere warm. a couple years ago - I was surprised to see him back and working in a short time after he got a stroke that crippled his entire left side.

and plus... by continuing to go local... they know me and I know them... and they do give me freebies or discounts sometimes. I saved some money in a way... and I actually learn MORE about what I'm buying and what goes into it.

good luck and have fun with your "Made in China" stuff laced with banned chemicals (not you but general you)
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About that..... I actually watch what I buy, and I only buy US made stuff, and so far, I've done all right, but there's not too many small businesses that actually do sell US made stuff, and the one I frequently go to is one of the few that I know does.
 
A lot of the stuff that is made in the US, isn't. It is a lie. Tools stamped made in USA are made in South Korea or wherever. Channelock and Klein run this scam. I don't know what loophole they use but there is one. A friend who has passed on used to remanufacture some of those tools for a patent process he had. He found he could buy them wholesale direct from South Korea.
The markup on all of this is more than you would believe possible. Another friend spent several years breaking into buying wholesale overseas in the early 90's. He was buying Bic lighters by the thousand from China for a penny a piece. It worked out to four cents a piece delivered here.
We Americans are being hosed. Hosed as hard as they want to hose. They laugh at us all the way to their overseas banks.
The good new is I guess we are not alone. Lots of other countries are getting the weenie too. Thank you World Trade Organization.
 
Jiro said:
not really. as long as ya'all keep supporting small businesses... the price will gets cheaper.

and in long-term sense.... by supporting fat cats... your medical bills will grow and grow from eating these GMO junks.
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Wondering why you're using "y'all" and "your"........when I was talking about the large amount of people that work for these big box stores being the only place they can afford to shop.

There's a very small percentage of people that can avoid big business completely. Especially when it comes to clothes, and even more especially for people with children. While it would be nice I could afford $100-600 for me and my 2 kids that ain't happening. Most Americans don't have that kind if disposable income. I get the bulk if clothes from Aeropostale because they always have good sales. It's wishful thinking that as long as people continue to shop small business the prices will come down. There is no "continue" because the majority if Americans can't even afford to start shopping exclusively small business.

You're single. It's not realistic to think the average family can do all their food shopping at a health food store. Buying all their clothes at boutiques.

I've posted in some of the same threads that you have and I have posted I eat almost exclusively meat and veggies, and that I don't eat corn..........you can avoid gmos shopping at a regular grocery store.
 
Right, if you want to buy a car made in America buy a Kia, there's a plant in Georgia. I think Honda has plants here as well, not positive. When I bought my dodge I was checking out the new charger in display. It's motor and parts were built in Mexico and it's assembled in Canada. Yup they shipped it all right through America to be built in Canada.
 
Jiro said:
not really. as long as ya'all keep supporting small businesses... the price will gets cheaper.

and in long-term sense.... by supporting fat cats... your medical bills will grow and grow from eating these GMO junks.
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I wish I can afford to buy the more expensive stuff but my salary is dwindling away so I am stuck.
 
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