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.
Posted on Small Business Saturday 2020!
::enters thread::
::Thinks, I buy everything from Amazon or Steam::
::sneaks away::
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!
Our local Deli/Meat/Cheese
When you go shopping you can drink free beer! From a Keg!
It is basically next door to where I live.
I think everyone in the Orlando area has heard of it.
I have not been there since Covid started. Sad…
Mnvelopes - I used it to do envelope budgeting and my checking. Life time member
I never purchased anything here but love the picture:
I keep the link because one day I intend to buy something.
https://www.hatsinthebelfry.com/category/mens-toyo-straw.html
This is a great place:
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.
For board games:
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.
Ok my last one:
This is also next door (I think there are three locations):
Italian Ices. You can also combine their Ices with soft ice cream. It is Weight Watcher’s worse nightmare! But it is all good.
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.
The shampoo is a bar? Wow, I never heard of that.
Makes me wonder if my wife would settle on just one bar rather than ten bottles of all kinds of stuff. : )
Thx, @ArmandoPenblade I think I just found a Christmas stocking stuffer! :)
Is it just me or do some of hose shampoo bars remind anyone of parmesan cheese?
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.
Thank you all, and I see that cross-pollination has already begun!
This is a good thread, @Dave_Perkins!
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).
Here’s where I buy my records:
My books:
https://www.rdbooks.org/
And my coffee:
https://www.tvcoffee.com/roastere-online-store
Does anyone have a local company that makes blankets? I can’t find anything in Idaho.
Best place to get a Turkey Special in southeastern PA.
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).
