Growing up I never really thought much about shopping locally, I would always go to the big brand name stores and get things from there. I never really took the time to go into thrift stores or go to flea markets or go into the little stores there were in my downtown area. It wasn’t because I thought I was too good for those stores I just never had and I didn’t think much about it. When I reached high school I had a friend that got me into shopping at thrift stores and I had been to the flea market with my dad a few times but I didn’t really look around long and actually buying something was a rare occasion. To me, this was never a big deal none of my friends really shopped at local places either and that was okay because we knew where our favorite stores in the mall were and when all of their sales would be so we could get the best deals for these overpriced items we wanted.
The summer before college my friends and I had started to explore our downtown more. We found a road that had many local shops on it and that was the first time I really started to look into that scene. That summer I had gotten a few things from those stores but I still did not realize the impact that I was making by shopping locally.
I reached college and I live near this cute place called Ghent. The first time I went there and walked around there was so much to look at. There were so many stores to go in and the best part was they were mainly all local stores. I went to downtown Norfolk also boy oh boy was there even more to look at. I had never had so much fun looking around and seeing things at this many stores, not in a mall setting.
My roommate, Molly, had taken us home with her over fall break this year. When we got to her cute little town it was local shops galore. There was something interesting cool, handmade, one of a kind, in all these stores and there were so many things I wanted to buy. We stopped and looked in almost all the stores that trip and never once was I bored or wanted to leave and go to the mall. My favorite part of this was how friendly the shop owners were to my friends and I and when we walked in some even knew Molly by name because she had been there before.
Shopping locally was something I use to never give a thought about. I never realized how much of an impact it has on the community by going to their stores instead of the large brand name malls. There is something at every store that catches my eye, as long as I take the time to stop and look.
The best part is the money goes straight back to the community and their store by shopping locally and not back into a larger corporation. Now I’m not saying give up going to the mall and only hit the thrift stores and local markets just next time you see a local store stop and look around because I can promise you that you will be surprised with what you see.
