Some of us would love to “eliminate big corporate shopping for Christmas” (to borrow a phrase from @SadleyBradley, who said this on Qt3’s Slack channel today). So maybe you’d take a moment to introduce us to one or more of your favorite small businesses in this thread.
I bought a TON of stuff yesterday from the Santa Cruz Homeless Garden Project. Every year I get all the women in my life the lavender salve (it’s like a skin cream for hands). Smells amazing and has no petrochemicals in it.
Another Santa Cruz business I love is Bay Photo Lab. Their quality is incredible - especially if you’re used to places like Shutterfly. I buy photo ornaments for my kid’s grandparents from them.
If anybody wants to order some books and doesn’t have a local small bookstore, have a look at Quail Ridge Books, in Raleigh, NC. They’ve been an awesome part of the community here for 30+ years. They’re more than happy to ship!
I have bought material to go under throw rugs to keep them from sliding. They are extremely helpful and knowledgeable - for example when I needed something to go under a throw rug that was going to be on top of our brand new Cali vinyl tiles. You have to be careful of what may leave a stain and so on.
I am not to far away from their Maitland, FL location but most of you board gamers out there are probably familiar with them through their online store.
I love me Chagrin Valley’s organic soap products. If you’ve ever wondered how Armando keeps his flowing locks so flowing, the secret is shampoo bars. And lots, and lots, and lots of conditioner. The body soaps, shave soaps, salves, etc., are all also great.
Yep! Rub it onto wet hair, then lather as normal. Generally made without sulfates and whatnot, so presumably better for hair health, but also doesn’t get SUPER bubbly like many shampoos do. If your wife’s already into fancy high-end haircare products, though, the lack of mega-lather will already be something she’s familiar with.
I am going to get one for my daughter too. I was exaggerating about my wife; it is not so much a lot of bottles but very big bottles of stuff she buys. I think she will love the idea of a shampoo bar. We will find out in month or so! : )
I got the Honey/Carrot and Honey/Beer/Egg to start.
My new goal for the holidays is basically just to stop shopping at Amazon and Walmart. It’s not necessarily a political statement. I just realized that I could spend the same amount shopping locally, and while I would probably end up with a smaller quantity of stuff on my budget, I would get the same or better quality of stuff and support a local business at the same time. I’d rather see my money go to the people I share my community with than (or someone in a different community) to line the pockets of a billionaire shareholder on a yacht somewhere (okay, maybe it’s a little bit of a political statement).
Where I am, shopping locally is a non-starter unless you are a) very wealthy, and b) only want boutique items or organic food. Vermont has the smallest population of any state in the nation. Our major metro area is like 100k, and that’s if you include a whole chunk of the NW part of the state around Burlington. We don’t even get a lot of chains, or car brands up here, and small specialty shops die like flies because there are no customers. I do my grocery shopping mostly at Hannaford’s, a Maine-based regional company that is good about using local stuff when possible, but with the exception of arts and crafts or organic foods, the only really local stores are selling high-priced yuppie stuff or things for the tourist trade.
On another note, Amazon is a place where a lot of small retailers sell stuff too, so it isn’t so black and white really. Even if Amazon is evil incarnate, I don’t think we could get by without it, as so many things from toiletries to ebooks are pretty much available only through them (or perhaps someone equally monolithic).