Buy Local...

It's Christmas-time and there is such a push to "Buy Local" that I decided that I was going to commit to buying 90% or more of my gifts locally. On "Black Friday" I decided that I would up that commitment and only shop at places that I could walk to - which is pretty limited where I live but since I really dislike crowds and I dislike the obnoxious traffic in Hyannis and Falmouth, this was a great way to avoid both. Maybe.

I headed out at around 11:30am figuring I would walk to the village, shop at the local stores, have lunch at the little lunch place, and walk home. Along the way I met a neighbor (he lives within a mile of my house so he's a neighbor in my book) that we had been waving to for a couple of years but had never met in person. He's a nice fellow named Charlie with a very boisterous Golden Retriever named Rex and both like to talk a lot. After about 30 minutes chatting with him, I made my way down to the little gift shop in the village.

I was greeted with... a crowd. Okay... it's Black Friday... I expected some crowds but this crowd made me glad that my car was safely parked in my driveway as the parking lot was a mess of large cars parked helter skelter. I went into the shop (I've never been there before) and it was cozy and inviting with bright lights and a wide variety of goods from soaps to candles to jewelry to Christmas decor to scarves and so on. I smiled inside thinking that I could probably find more than a few things for folks in this store and I was feeling good that I was shopping locally.

I began to move through the tight aisles and looking more carefully at the items on the shelves. The soaps were not made locally - they were made by large corporations that just packaged them nicely. The candles where lovely but again, mass-produced elsewhere. The scarves were "Hecho en Chine" (Made in China... in Spanish). The Christmas decorations were all made in Taiwan, China or India at mass-production factories. The more I picked up and studied the "Made in..." label on each item, the more angry I became inside. Not only were these things all mass-produced in some foreign country... but they had prices on them like they had been handmade just for me! I moved upstairs because I heard some ladies talking about the "adorable hand-crafts" upstairs but when I got up there, I found the same crap that I find in stores everywhere these days with prices twice as high!

I was now in a full-blown quandary. The store IS local. It IS a local person who owns it. Therefore, part of me feels like I should support the local economy by buying things there. BUT... everything is made in China or mass-produced and marked up so high that I was disgusted. I was feeling guilty about not supporting a local business person AND guilty about buying crap made in China!

I had to compromise so I selected four little metal signs for Christmas decor ("Joy" "Peace" "Love" "Cheer") and as I was wrestling with the above quandary, a saleswoman came over and gave me the full-court press about the little baskets hanging on the wall with holly on them. She kept saying how "darling" they were and so wonderfully made. I thought "Oh! Maybe she has just pointed out the ONE locally-made... or at least made in the USA product!" But no. As she moved away, I flipped it over and "Hecho en Chine" was on the little tell-tale gold label on the bottom. Hrmpfh!

I took my four little signs and went straight to the counter and checked out. I wanted so badly to comment to the salespeople about trying to "Buy Local" in a shop that carries only crap Hecho en China... but I didn't.

So after that rather irritating experience, I went to the little consignment shop just down the road. It has everything from little trinkets to furniture and everything in between. You just have to be willing to look carefully. I ended up spending more money in there because I found a handmade Santa Claus ornament made by a local artist (I like to imagine him as an old fella sitting at home whittling and painting these ornaments all year long) and this made me VERY happy! I also found a stoneware cookie press in the shape of a large Christmas bell. It was so sweet that I had to buy it!

From there I headed to the little eatery and chatted with the owner - a local woman who makes her own chocolates etc right on site - and we ended up realizing that we know some of the same people and that she would like to join my book club. Fun!

So... the score for the day ended up: Christmas shopping - 0 (The little things I bought were for our home) Meeting new neighbors and feeling like the day was worth it - 2. Not bad.

Now, however, my burning desire to open a little shop with ONLY items that are made, grown, produced etc within 100 miles has now been further fanned.

Unfortunately the rest of my Christmas shopping didn't fare much better. I visited several consignment shops and a few local church bazaars and got a few items here and there but for the most part, I ended up at a department store for the items on my son's list. I didn't have much choice after all was said and done.

I did, however, manage to avoid shopping at the mall 100% this season! We always go to the mall for one thing each year - my mother's annual donkey calendar. But this year, my husband was in the area anyway so I had him swing in and pick it up therefore keeping my mall shopping at zero and THAT is a big win as far as I'm concerned!