With the emergence of the Internet, email and online shopping, how many of us still support our local businesses?
I know in some scenarios it may not be possible to buy certain items locally but often you can find a 'hidden gem'.
Perhaps it is just because I run a small business myself that I try and support local businesses wherever possible. Admittedly sometimes certain items may cost a few pounds more but the networking that results is in my opionion invaluable.
Here's an example, I needed some Christmas cards to send to my customers - it was Saturday, so the local market was in Spalding town centre - one of the stalls is there all year round selling cards, wrapping paper, cake decorations etc. I bought 5 boxes of cards off him and got chatting about what I do for living etc - 'Oh he said, my mate is looking for someone to sort out his hedges - can I take your number?'
To cut a long story short, I went to see aforementioned friend and we agreed a price and carried out the work. On calculating the difference between the price of the market traders cards and the one of equivalent quality in the nearby mainstream card shop - the market traders cards were 2.5 pence per card more expensive - however this was more than paid for by the cost of the resulting job!
I also have a good working relationship with my small local mower sales and service shop and the adjoining farm supplies centre. Between these, they supply all of my machinery parts and service items, compost, grit salt, lawn fertiliser etc. As they know that I frequently buy from them, they both pass jobs my way and freely distribute advice and information that would possibly not be given to ordinary domestic customers.
Perhaps I am lucky as I live in an area of agriculture and industry, but within 10 miles I have a large network of suppliers who can make up anything from a piece of specifically engineered steelwork, to a custom made hydraulic hose and virtually everything in between.
This post is NOT intended as a knock towards internet sellers, LJN or any other media as without them, I wouldn't be where I am now.
I think LJN does the industry a massive service in bringing together like minded individuals from all over the country who freely discuss matters and dispense information, only asking that they receive the same in return - just like a big village network!
Long may it continue......just lets not forget the local guy - else he might not be there when you need him next!
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I always like to support local businesses when I can but it comes down to convienience a lot of the time and I quite often buy things online, not always cheaper but hard to track down products.
I have often thought it a good idea to have a directory of internet sellers that are local to you, I would rather any money I spend online was kept as local as possible.
I used to support local businesses but the service/product...was poor and whilst I had hoped that it was a worthwhile thing to do, doing so did me no favours, so now I don't bother. The same with things like local business breakfasts...a complete waste of my time, they all wanted everything done for zip, it ended up costing us money.