Why Shopping Local is Always the Best Choice

Don’t get me wrong, I love a good trip to Target or the convenience of shopping at Walmart (especially cause this college girl has got a budget), but there are so many wonderful aspects of taking the time to go downtown and experience the little unique shopping opportunities that you can’t find just anyplace.

1. If someone asks you wear you bought your dress, you can proudly say that you got it from a super chic, little boutique that is one of a kind and everyone else will be so impressed that you discovered something so cool and not mainstream.

2. You get the chance to support your local economy (or whatever town you are visiting). This is important to help small businesses stay open and for those people to be able to support their families in the midst of the huge corporate takeovers that are invading cities around the globe and putting small business owners out on the streets.

3. Local food is always better tasting and more nutritious than supermarket food. Not only is it usually cheaper, the quality of taste so much richer, but also how much better buying local produce is for the environment!

4. You get to experience the secret places in your city. When you skip out on taking a trip to Starbucks, it gives you an opportunity to discover an awesome “hole-in-the-wall” coffee shop that has an awesome vibe that is all its own. It could be a new favorite place to go do homework or just relax.

5. You make friends. If you are constantly visiting the little local boutiques or coffee shops, you are bound to see familiar faces after a while and meet people with awesome stories to share.

6. If you skip out on your weekly trips to Walmart, they won’t even notice your lack of business, but if you skip out on shopping at your local food co-op or bakery, their business will suffer traumatically. Small, local businesses depend on us to survive.

7. You never know what you will find. Shopping local gives you all sorts of awesome opportunities to find little quirky items that could never be found in a mass chain store. These cool things are what give your home or style a truly unique edge that you just can’t recreate shopping at the huge places.

I think that everyone should give local shops a try. It is sometimes a little inconvenient to have to visit a bunch of stores instead of one huge one-stop shop, but the pay off in experiences and awesome, unique purchases make it all worth it.

Picture credit:

http://blog.freepeople.com/2015/03/we-could-be-heroes-salvatore-brooklynearly-bird-granolawhite-moustache-yogurt/?crlt.pid=camp.yeFsUKZg8Rex