Buying Local

[mominatrix]

So... it's come up in a couple of threads, but let's hash it out more.


A lot of us say that we like to "buy local" but what does that really mean?

I see myself as kind of a nonconsumerist hippie type. I try to buy as much secondhand as possible (because, hell, most people get rid of perfectly good stuff because they've tired of it, not because its outlived its usefulness, and I figure it's buying less new, and saving something from a landfill)... but I digress...

Other than food, how do we actually and for true define buying local?

Locally made, or local company in charge? Or both?

Do we have higher customer service expectations of "local" companies than we do of others? (I say, I do... I had a negative experience with Western Chief over a pair of rain boots that totally ticked me off, and probably wouldn't have, if they weren't fairly local.)

Local merchant (heck, would Amazon and Costco count for Seattleites)? Small merchant? Do merchants matter more or less than the location of the people making the goods?


And, I for one at least, find myself buying "special" items at local stores, but if I need a spatula (or other boring everyday item) I'm going to Target or Ikea. So is there a difference between the everyday and the fancypants?

[heyjude]

I get a farm share but that's about it. I'm not very good.

I explored buying a local WAHM's cloth diapers but they were significantly more than BumGenius and let's not even get into the comparison to China's Sunbabies ...

I'm not a very good hippy.

[teflep]

We buy a lot of locally made items--soap, jams, other food items.

We also buy at local shops that are eco-friendly or focus on fair trade.

I think a locally owned shop is important, regardless of whether the items are made locally or not if we truly want to stop the Walmarts and, well, Targets of the world from taking over everything.

[NitaX]

For me, I do more local restaurants than anything. The one great thing about Memphis is that there tons of great local restaurants around town.

I buy other goods - hair bows, jewelry - from local shops.

[downtoearth]

Tough - I consider myself pretty "local" but I also have to agree that a lot of times, I'm buying a national/made-in-another-country item in a small local business, so I wonder if that undermines things.

As for what we buy local - beer, most food from May - September (farmer's market local growers and local meat guy), buy food at a local hippy market (but also hit Costco every 2 months for food there), and try to buy all presents locally in our little downtown stores. We also go out to eat at local places - can't think of one chain I've been to in months.

But even the chains employ local people so it's hard to say that big-box stores and chain restaurants are not good for the local economy.

As for clothes, we have a lot of hand-me-downs from family for our kids so we don't buy much yet, but I think that is the line item that is hardest to buy local or get made local for adults and kids.

[statlerwaldorf]

I try to buy a lot of locally made products, but we don't have a huge amount of factories anymore. I buy a lot of produce and meat from local farms. I try to stick with local caterers and local restaurants instead of the chain restaurants. I do most of my grocery shopping from a local grocery store, but sometimes I shop at Meijer. I shop at local consignment shops a lot.

I don't know that I necessarily expect better service. Overall the people at the local businesses tend to be a little friendlier. They are more passionate about their business than employees at the big restaurants or businesses. The service is usually slower.

[heightsyankee]

I'm also pretty local. I look at it like a pyramid of sorts. I need to buy my groceries somewhere, so if there is no neighborhood owned market, I look for one HQd in Houston (Fiesta). If I can't get everything I need there, I look for one HQd in Texas. I also get a farm share every other week.

I agree that supporting the local business doesn't mean the things have to be made there. The local, small business owner still benefits the community more than the big box chain. There is one store in my neighborhood where everything is locally made/upcycled. I buy as much as I can there.

[Deleted]

tough question. I TRY to make sure my food is local - as I live in a very agriculture-dominant area, thats important to me. I am successful about 50% of the time - but the other 50% of the time I buy things like crackers, flour, sugar, mangoes, etc. that just aren't local products and I buy them at the grocery store.

I'm doing cloth diapering about 50% of the time. The other 50% of the time its Pampers and I get those at Walmart, so giant fail there.

I try to buy the baby stuff second-hand. The clothes mostly come from China and unfortunately, there isn't much Canadian made clothing here. I try to reduce my footprint by buying used. We got a LOT of baby gifts - people were ridiculously generous and I already feel as though we've been so bad for the environment.

I am switching to Arbonne make-up products which has a local salesperson, and is mostly organic, from my understanding. Same wtih ENJO as far as cleaning stuff goes. By buying that I am paying a local person, even if the product itself isnt local.

[chichimi]

Laurier-I love arbonne!

I like buying from locally owned restaurants, clothing shops, and markets.

[Deleted]

Jul 19, 2012 14:42:33 GMT -5 @chichimi said:

Laurier-I love arbonne!

I like buying from locally owned restaurants, clothing shops, and markets.

I've heard great things!!!

[darnkatz]

We try to eat at local restaurants and utilize local cafes. We also go to bike shops that are not chains.

I would love to actually purchase a bike that meets our needs that is made in America, but this hasn't been possible as of yet. Over 90% of all bikes sold in the US are made, painted, assembled, and packed in China. Most of the rest are made in Taiwan. It really pisses me off. Our Yuba Mundo was made in China, and our Madsen cargo bike frame was made in Taiwan (at least the bucket is made in Idaho). I don't even know specifically where H's Jamis frame was made or my Civia Loring. It's disappointing. I would have loved to have purchased a Shuttlebug, which is made in Portland, but the price tag was absolutely not in our budget.

Anyway. Off that tangent!

We generally do a combo of locally made and local company in charge. I like to shop at our neighborhood toy store, Play, but most of the merchandise is not made in Chicago.

I do a lot of second hand clothes because I can't afford the local stuff.

[downtoearth]

Jul 19, 2012 15:26:44 GMT -5 darnkatz said:

We try to eat at local restaurants and utilize local cafes. We also go to bike shops that are not chains.

I would love to actually purchase a bike that meets our needs that is made in America, but this hasn't been possible as of yet. Over 90% of all bikes sold in the US are made, painted, assembled, and packed in China. Most of the rest are made in Taiwan. It really pisses me off. Our Yuba Mundo was made in China, and our Madsen cargo bike frame was made in Taiwan (at least the bucket is made in Idaho). I don't even know specifically where H's Jamis frame was made or my Civia Loring. It's disappointing. I would have loved to have purchased a Shuttlebug, which is made in Portland, but the price tag was absolutely not in our budget.

Anyway. Off that tangent!

We generally do a combo of locally made and local company in charge. I like to shop at our neighborhood toy store, Play, but most of the merchandise is not made in Chicago.

I do a lot of second hand clothes because I can't afford the local stuff.

Off-topic, but my husband started a company (now his side company) to design, build, and sell custom bike frames, so I know what you mean. H actually left a small US frame company and part of the reason was that they were designing in the US/Canada, but decided to outsource the building overseas once a new owner came on.

How do you like your Madsen? Do you take kids around in it? I was looking at an xtracycle or cargo-type bike as a present to us for the next kiddo.

[SusanBAnthony]

We get as much of our food as we can locally, and also direct from farmers.

I try to shop at small businesses, and I also try to buy the things they carry that are locally made- like soap- a bunch of shops in town carry saps, but I make sure to buy the locally made ones.

But I also buy a lot of stuff from amazon. There is no choice for so much stuff- I needed sippy cup lids today, and life jackets. There is no choice but to get something made in china.

I am bad about clothes. I tend to aim for buying less. I just can't seem to find what I like used. But, I buy maybe 10 new clothing items a year, so hopefully it all evens out.

[emilyj]

About 90% of our fruit and produce comes from local growers. We eat more bananas then what our CSA provides, so I end up having to go to the grocery store for that. All of our meat comes from our university's meat lab (prepared by our ag students) - which is a double bonus because I can get grass fed beef there for super cheap. When our fisheries school runs sales, I try to stock up on fish from them. We are very lucky in that the university I am at is very agriculture based.

We never go to chain restaurants locally. Anytime we go out to eat it's to a local restaurant.

Anything we buy for our bikes, we go to our local bike shop. Yes, we can get better prices on Amazon, but I like having the relationship with them. They helped me out big time with a purchase I just made with them.

I can't bring myself to buy clothes/jewelry from the local clothing shops and boutiques, because they all cater to the college kids with daddy's credit cards, and that shit is hella expensive.

[darnkatz]

Jul 19, 2012 15:41:36 GMT -5 downtoearth said:

Off-topic, but my husband started a company (now his side company) to design, build, and sell custom bike frames, so I know what you mean. H actually left a small US frame company and part of the reason was that they were designing in the US/Canada, but decided to outsource the building overseas once a new owner came on.

How do you like your Madsen? Do you take kids around in it? I was looking at an xtracycle or cargo-type bike as a present to us for the next kiddo.

That's awesome! It's so weird to me that there isn't a bigger demand for American-made bicycles, especially given the new biking movement. Hopefully it takes off and your H gets a lot of business

I love my Madsen. I've owned it for a year now, and I can't imagine not having it! I use it with my four year old and with the kids that I watch, so I've had 3 kids in it at one time. It handles beautifully. I love all the space, and the kids really adore it. We've actually caused minor traffic jams before because the kids love to wave and say hi ;D It's pretty cozy, too. We have no issues with naps! I generally have a big purse or bag with me, so she just lays on that.




Our Yuba is pretty spectacular, too. H is in love with it. We have a Yepp Maxi seat on it, which the kid is pretty fond of.

Highly recommend both bikes! They are budget friendly (read: not $3k-8k).

[downtoearth]

Thanks, Kelbrian...I'm going to look into those. DH keeps saying he's going to build me an cargo-type bike, but you know how the cobblers kids never have new shoes...it's the same in the bike industry.

[seventeen]

We eat at local restaurants (as opposed to chains, though I know they often get their food from the same sources) and shop at farmers markets. We also have our milk delivered from a local dairy.

[marie427]

I used to be better about buying local food from our online grocery shop but I save so much money at the local supermarket because they have much better deals and i hate spending a lot on groceries. This makes me a terrible human being, I know.

I also suck about buying clothes. Now that I think about it, I suck in general when it comes to supporting local businesses except for restaurants.

As for what I define as "local"? I'd say any company (of any kind) whose headquarters (in the loosest sense possible) isn't that far from you, so you lucky Seattle residents get to claim Amazon as local. I hate you.

[DaisyCakes]

I suppose Target would be considered local since I'm in Minneapolis. I used to work in their corporate offices. I do a lot of shopping there.
H works at a local co-op, so food comes from there.
I like to keep it local as much as I can, but the paycheck only stretches so far.

[basilosaurus]

I think the only local I can manage is food. I try to shop at farmers markets. Our Whole Foods actually has a big local section, and it's not terribly marked up on the market prices. I want to say 40% of their produce is local.

I eat at local restaurants, preferably ones who locally source, too.

Other than that, I don't do much.