Shop Local: Choose Main Street

What’s your most, most favorite boutique, shop, restaurant? I bet that it’s locally owned by an individual, not a corporation (if you are here, reading us, I’m confident that this is a correct assumption and that you are not about to answer Ann Taylor or Olive Garden!).

Think about what makes shopping or dining in that favorite place so special. The service? The atmosphere? The unique selections? That they know your name or will order something especially for you?

When I lived in Orange County and Las Vegas, shopping independent small stores was really difficult. The large shopping mall and strip mall spaces (practically the only type of retail space available) dominated the landscape and offered prohibitive rents that prevented any small shopkeeper from ever considering them. So, shopping choices in such regions were limited to chains, chains and more cookie-cutter chains. I had tried to encourage the few and far between independent shops but they’d often closed down before I could even become “a regular”.

I admit, there is definitely a place, in all our consumption, for Big Box (read Target, mainly). But, as a protagonist for independent business, the scene described above – where this is an almost total absence of independent business – was slowly and surely lobotomizing me by eliminating any semblance of individuality in my shopping, dining and cultural (this part for a whole other discussion) options. Thankfully, things are quite a bit different here in the Greater Chicago area where I live now, and boy does it rejuvenate my spirit. Plenty of small, charming, organic neighborhoods with creative and inspiring choices for shopping, dining, browsing…

Independent businesses and small stores are a precious commodity, a cherished piece of our heritage that is unfortunately under constant threat, battling for survival and they need our support.

There is a movement under way and I want you to join. Whether as a merchant or as a shopper, please join. Well, actually, there are several movements, but all with the same purpose: to shop locally, shop in your neighborhood and shop small stores. It doesn’t matter exactly what they are called. All it takes on your part is a conscious decision to shop small stores in your area.

To me, this quote found on the American Independent Business Alliance website describes so well the rising lament of the same-old-same-old and the yearning for independent:

When in the course of human events, it becomes appropriate for communities to assert their independence, to denounce uniformity and celebrate their uniqueness, a respect for freedom and human creativity requires independent businesses and peoples to declare those elements which make them interesting.

I spoke with Rachel Hershinow, the owner of the very charming Stella boutique in Evanston and the instigator of the Shop Small Store campaign in her Central Street, Evanston neighborhood. For her, this is a Pay-it-Forward and empowering movement that will help preserve and even rejuvenate independent neighborhood shopping districts. And, if you’re not so sensitive to the actual charm and quaintness of these neighborhoods, the numbers will get the point across: For every $100 spent when shopping locally, $68 stays in the community as opposed to $43 with Big Box and, of course $0 with online shopping. That 25% difference is huge to support the community that you live in…

Besides, there are so many reasons to want to shop indie:

• Small stores display hand-picked merchandise, where every item is chosen by the store owner with the sole purpose to serve and delight its customers.  Small stores offer personality, diversity and creative offerings.
• The shopkeepers make their decisions to respond uniquely to the community’s needs and wants. And customer service is all-important. That’s their real competitive edge. It’s a hands-on approach, by someone who cares about the shop and its customers. It’s not the corporate chain store where the manager must follow the generic guidelines.
• Shopping at small stores keeps them in business (thriving would be the goal)