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| More people are beginning to rediscover the benefits of shopping at independent local shops. It's better for the community, provides better quality, is environmentally sustainable and is free of supermarket cartels and should stimulate competition and better consumer choice. |
Sick
of hearing tales of multinational coffee shops who don't pay UK corporation
tax? Annoyed at the way supermarkets screw customers and suppliers? Wish that all those empty units in the local
shopping centre were turned into thriving independent retailers?Well, follow LUCY PATTERSON'S lead and do something about it. As Lucy explains, by shopping and thinking local, we can not only create employment but create communities.
Change
the world by changing your little bit of it.
FROM
the industrial revolution, to the dawn of the world wide web, it would appear
that we are constantly led to believe that international is better than
national; national is better than local.
But
what about local?
In
this age of globalisation and international banking meltdowns, I firmly believe
that there is a place for the local to re-emerge.
I
see embracing what I have on my doorstep and utilising it to its best effect as
the currently missing catalyst for improving society. I am not talking about
buying successfully ‘localised’ products and services; ones that we are led to
believe have been developed with our particular culture in mind; I mean grass
roots local. Products and services that are developed by people actually living
within the community they serve; products and services that give back to the
community in which they are based.
Think
back to the times when your parents or grandparents had to buy their food from
local shops and producers. Said producers were accountable for their wares and
their trading places formed the hub of communities. Whether it be the market
stall, butchers shop or simply the farm gate; there was transparency and
simplicity in the sourcing of the things we needed and if something ran out or
was not available at the time, we went without; sustainability and seasonality.
Simple.
