Why HERE?
20 little thought of benefits of small local establishments,
and why we absolutely cannot thrive without them*.
Why local matters
"I believe our largest problems have grown from the earth's remotest corners as well as our own back yards, and that salvation may lie in those places, too." Barbara Kingsolver
Think globally, act locally; think big, act small; grassroots efforts. Whatever you call it, the idea remains the same. We can let insurmountable problems overwhelm us and turn us into a helpless, whimpering heap.
Or, we can focus our energies in places where we actually have influence and where our actions will lead to change, and not let the apparent smallness of the task blind us to its potential significance.
You can’t save the rainforest, but you can grow a pollinator garden in your front yard, you can’t save all the homeless pets, but you can foster one, you can’t change the global dependence on fossil fuel, but you can ride your bike to work.
And no, you can’t singlehandedly fight big business and its stranglehold on our lives. But you can affect your local economy and health of your community.
Why cultivate local business
We’re facing uncertainty and confusion, loss of faith in accustomed institutions, structures and routines, erosion of trust in our long-standing systems and in one another.
This may be the perfect time to encourage change in your community, and to shift focus and care to cultivating local resources. Here is where we will find solace and grounding, open our minds and hearts to some much needed collective questioning, engage with our neighbors for a better view of humanity, and replace divisions with friendships and alliances.
Cultivating a local economy doesn’t just mean that some local mom and pop will be able to put food on the table for one more night (although —as the “ma” half of a local ma-and-pa, I promise you that this too it important). Small local businesses play a pivotal role in restoring the well-being of communities.
Small businesses that are open to the public —including eating and drinking establishments, hair and beauty salons, and local retail stores where people come to browse during public open hours— are a fundamental institution of mediation between an individual and larger society.
They are local and inclusive. When the doors open for business, it denotes that everyone is welcome.
They become informal public gathering spaces. This makes small businesses very different from gathering spaces organized around a purpose, such as places of worship, theater and music venues or community meetings. The nature of our interaction with people we run into by accident, where we don’t come to listen to somebody talk, is a delightful, unpredictable and enriching part of our informal public life.
Because such businesses exist close to people’s homes, they also encourage spontaneous outings, enhancing the informal and unpredictable aspect of social life.
Groupings of small businesses encourage us to wander freely and foster our essential and overwhelmingly positive need for socialization.
Local business promote human-scale mobility, including walking and biking, which put people in intimate contact with their surroundings, and make residents custodians of their neighborhoods.
Small businesses where people gather in informal groupings promote dialogue, allow us to get to know one another, and become aware of our common interest and collective abilities, essential to both community and democracy.
These gathering space are indigenous and not easily replicated elsewhere. They are in and of their place. Each combination shop windows, awnings, curbside tables and choice of music is irreplaceable. Compare this to the monolithic facade of the national chain.
In all those ways, small businesses can serve to unite the neighborhood and encourage residents to feel a deeper investment and sense of belonging in their community. They create community character and social solidarity.
Through encouraging the spontaneity and diversity of human contact they foster tolerance, interdependence and empathy.
They prevent loneliness, combat over-dependence on virtual media and digital entertainment, and induced social isolation.
They replace the convenience of virtual connections and transactions with congeniality of real interaction.
They are a key and pleasant antidote to modern retreat from society and civility.
They offer easy access to familiar faces in unpredictable and unplanned combinations.
As a “third space” they offer a needed respite from pressures of life, both at home and work.
These spaces offer a point of entry for newcomers and strangers, and make them feel at home. In cites without them even the native doesn’t feel a sense of belonging.
Local businesses in town or neighborhood centers require comparatively little infrastructure investment and make more efficient use of available real estate and public services as compared to nationally owned stores entering the community.
Small businesses are the center of most authentic local economic exchange. Retail is, quite literally, bread and butter for local merchants, their families and staff. The money you spend here will stay here to support those businesses, their employees, and improve the financial health of the community.
Localpeneurs know you. You'll get a cup of freshly brewed coffee, served by a person who knows just how you like it. Bread that was baked with character this very morning by a baker who knows your first name. Aisles of books that smell like books and have prices inside of the back covers discreetly penciled on the by a fellow reader who can make a heartfelt recommendation. Clothes that have outlived their usefulness for someone, but are just the thing you need to liven up your wardrobe, curated and arranged by your neighbor down the street with a quirky sense of style. A bicycle repaired by a mechanic who understands your dreams of independent travel.
People who care whether you come in or not. Who specialize in what they do, and, if you share their passion, you will find products that don't just take up space, but fit into and enhance your life in a meaningful way. People who take pride in their workmanship, or the service they provide. People who believe that how well they do their job will affect how well your day goes.
The unfortunate effect of the pandemic is that, along with the threat to public health, it has brought a deep threat to our social health. Let’s take this threat, and potential loss of something we have long taken for granted, seriously. Let’s use this moment in time to change how we define our place. We live locally. We interact locally. Let’s heal, build and grow locally, too.
We cannot individually solve problems bigger than ourselves. Ultimately, we only have control over our own actions. But in coming together as individuals within communities everywhere, we can turn what seems like a grim moment in time into a redefining one.
Let’s try to find “salvation in our own back yard”. Imagine —if everyone's tended this yard in accordance with their most deeply held beliefs and values— how different would that world be from the one we currently inhabit.
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Footnote:
Many of these points are taken from the excellent introduction to The Great Good Place by Ray Oldenburg, Marlowe & Company, 3rd Edition, August 18, 1999.