Buying local to keep your community strong

I'm a firm believer that during tough economic times, you can make a huge difference by spending money close to home. We saw this in Manhattan during the cleanup, when small businesses started drying up - only residents were allowed downtown for a few months before Xmas, and few people actually were there at all.

The shops and restaurants in our neighborhood came out of someone's entrepreneurial dream. These were the businesses where they knew your face on sight, they were full of character. Looking around at this desolation, we knew that we had to choose just a few where we could spend our money, and the rest would probably struggle and fail. Many did fail and the neighborhood was worse off without them.

This Xmas, everyone is going to tighten their belts, and the little bit that we all spend will make a huge difference if it's focused in our own communities. Huge national companies tend to come out of hard economies on top, because small and medium sized businesses can't slash prices the way the big box stores can. Believe me when I tell you, Amazon, Wal Mart, Costco, and Sams will do just fine if they don't get every one of our dollars this year. If we can keep our spending closer to home, the business profits will go into our own neighborhoods - someone will be able to afford a new home in your neighborhood, hire a new employee from your town, or buy their supplies from a store closeby.

So let's all find a few, or a bunch, of things we can buy locally from independent stores. Maybe it's a touch more expensive, but for a couple of items, maybe it's worth it to invest in our communities and pull through this mess together.