The price of Tea in your Community

Alright I agree. The economy is just plain bad. People are claiming if they do not spend money it will not get better. Well, spend it with me on my site, or any other small business. Why you ask? First off you are helping more than just me in this.

For example, if you were to buy a bar of soap :
Into that bar went,
Oils bought from local merchants
Fragrances bought from US companies
Herbs bought from US farmers.
Packaging bought from local merchants or
Soap bag made by myself. Yarn bought locally.

So in a nutshell, your 5.00 is being spread over 5 companies at least.
Ok so you don't HAVE to buy from me and honestly if you live in Canada, the UK or even Florida, I do not ask that you do. But I do suggest you look at local merchants first.

Granted sometimes they have to charge a bit more for an item or service, but usually you get much more than just the item. You get service and you are helping your local community.

4 years ago every strip mall in my area had a local computer repair and sales store in it. Now I know of 1 fairly far away to whom I would not take an abacus. What happened?

Best Buy, Circuit City and CDW happened. But I do not need a gaming machine, or a networked business computer or even a laptop. I just need something to keep my accounts on and write letters. Yet, none of these stores sell what I need. If my machine should break, these are the only places in the area that service machines. They would rather sell me a new one. To top it off, Circuit City is closing its store in my area. So now I have 2 choices. What happens if the other two follow suit? Ever try to buy a computer on the internet when you cannot access the internet?

The local shops closed because people went to the other places for computers. In many cases, the computers were more expensive than if they had talked to a local person. I never spent more than 900.00 for a desktop from the shop I used to use. And he always built it to my specifications. He never overcharged. He always gave me what I needed (with a little more room for expansion) and the owner knew me personally. As a result I sent business his way whenever I could.

But it was not enough. Too many businesses went to Best Buy. Now maybe they treat business accounts better than a single unit buyer. But last time I walked in telling them what I wanted, they tried to sell me what they wanted to. I do not like laptops (for many reasons) Yet that seemed to be their solution for everything. Granted the laptop was inexpensive, but the docking station, adaptors and other periphial necessities made it less cost effective than buying too much machine. But since they are one of 2 merchants in my area that sell anything remotely like what I need and they do not carry what I really want, they were confident that I would buy from them. I did not and I let their home office know why.

That is the OTHER advantage of supporting your local merchants. They will try to stock what you want or need. They will try to get things for you. Why? Because it will make you happy and keep you coming back. It may make you refer more business to them.

The chains want to homoginize things to make it more cost effective for them. They want you to buy Red Rose tea because they have a contract with Red Rose. Never mind if you do not care for it, or if you prefer a different brand or tea mixture. They want you to buy Red Rose. For now. If they get a better contract with Lipton they will want you to buy that and stop carrying the other. You can contact their corporate offices, but if they are the only place that you can get tea in your area, they will stock what they want to. If you want tea, you will buy what they want to sell you.

But if you buy tea from a local grocer or a specialty tea shop, now you can back up your complaint by withdrawing your money from the chain. Yes that will cut into their profits. But would you rather see your money go to a conglomerate based elsewhere or to go into your community?

So, when you can, buy locally, support local craft shows, farmer's markets, and businesses that are locally owned and run. You are putting money back into your community. You are perhaps adding jobs to your community if through your and others efforts the local businesses grow. Last but not least, you are building a relationship with a local person who will (or at least should) be grateful for your support.