Close By and Smaller: Buying Local

Thoughts on the rise of big box stores, scaled e-commerce, and the importance of buying from locally-owned business.

Oakland’s Piedmont Avenue

This not-so-big stretch of road is a shining example of what a more localized economy looks like, where small businesses are the majority and corporate enterprises are the exception. From local-owned grocery stores (there are two!), coffee shops (including a 100% vegan one!), restaurants (tons!), health & personal care offices, gyms, clothing stores, bars, tattoo studios, hair salons, and book stores, Piedmont Avenue has it all.

Dollars spent at these businesses recirculates and has a higher multiplier effect. The 21st century advent of big box stores and highly scaled e-commerce (Amazon, for example) has led to community dollars to be siphoned away from the area in which it was spent. By turning away from small businesses, we have landed ourselves in an economy that is largely corporate owned, where the value of the transaction is not felt by the community, and further pushes the supremacy of multi-million or multi-billion dollar companies, over-time leading to a reliance on them and the erasure of locally-owned businesses.

I’m not saying you’re automatically A Bad Person Ruining Your Local Economy for buying from Amazon or a large chain, but there are likely businesses in your radius that could use your dollar.

If you need toothpaste, is there a corner store or small grocer you can go to instead of ordering online or buying from a large pharmacy?

If you’re going to buy a cup of coffee, is there a small shop you can go to instead of Starbucks?

Date night coming up? Check around to see if you have a small, privately owned movie theater nearby. If so, there are probably locally-owned restaurants around you too.

Everything we do has a repercussion – we may not see it today, we may not see it tomorrow, and we may not even see it a year from now. But when we do, I hope we reflect on our actions with and joy and contentment for the sake of ourselves, our community, and generations to come.