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My Local First, then 25 challenge is now over.  Over the last four weeks my husband I have bought everything from local businesses and ate local food as much as possible.  There were a couple bumps in the road, you’ll hear about those later, but over all the experiment was refreshing.  It was great gettting to know my neighborhood and I found some new stores I really love.

Here is what I learned.

Shopping at local businesses can be an adventure.

Every time I went into a new local business or restaurant there was a new experience.  Shopping at chain stores is boring, everything’s the same and employees don’t really care about their job.  At local businesses this is much different.  Sure there is always going to be the employee that doesn’t care about their job, but for the most part everyone is more vested in you having a good experience.  The atmosphere in each restaurant and shop is completely different.  Electric Cheetah is much different then Brick Road Pizza.  Pallets is much different then Yours Truly.  With a variety of places to shop, and the excitement of not knowing what you will run across, I don’t know why anyone shops at chain stores.

The product is higher quality.

Along with the adventure of experiencing a new place and atmosphere at each shop or restaurant the quality of the food and products always seems much better.  I don’t know how many mass produced t-shirts I have bought from Store X that only last me two washes.  Buying clothing that may be a little more expensive from a local business most definitely will last longer.  The food is typically better as well.  Okay, there is always the hole in the wall with the horrible food, but there is a reason why they are still open.  At one time that restaurant had the best food of it’s kind, neighbors came to love their owners, and it just started to feel like home.  Local business owners have a much higher stake in ensuring their product is of the highest quality, there are just too many choices for it not too be.  I don’t know of any better scones then at Wealthy Street Bakery, mmm.

Local business owners are friendlier.

I’ve already talked about vested employees, but want to drive this home much further.  The real point is I actually met or saw many of the owners in the places I ate and shopped.  I talked personally with the owner of Yours Truly, ordered a drink from the owner at The Winchester, and snuck a glance of the owner of Electric Cheetah.  Getting to know the owners of these places leads me to trust them more.  America has really turned to trusting the brand over the business owner, and over the last month I realized trusting the business owner is much better.  I know them personally, how they act in the community, how they treat their employees, and the quality of product they present.

Shopping locally makes you be creative.

During the month of July we have a bazillion birthdays, including both of ours, both our mom’s and approximately ten aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends.  Although we didn’t buy gifts for everyone, we bought many cards, and of course gifts for each other.  Being the gift procrastinator I am, I had to get Rob his gift the day before his birthday. With seemingly limited possibilities, I thought it would be impossible.  After a little investigating and talking with coworkers I ended up at Art of the Table.  Two of his favorite things are beer and hot sauce, so I browsed their selection of 184 beers (I made my own six pack) and bought him two bottles of some Michigan made hot sauce.  He loved it.  Although I wasn’t able to get him the usual video game or CD, this gift was much more personal and I actually felt proud of it.  While shopping for birthday presents I also had to find some thank yous for our wedding.  My first instinct was to head over to Micheal’s, which I couldn’t do. Instead I headed over to Yours Truly and found some unique thank yous.  The postcards I chose aren’t the typical wedding thank yous, but that made them all the better.  While at Yours Truly I also found a great selection of birthday cards.

You don’t have to wait an hour at the local pharmacy.

During the last month I had my first experience bringing my prescription to a local pharmacy.  Growing up my mom only trusted Walgreens and that’s where I’ve always gone.  I thought the only way to get a prescription filled through your doctor’s call was to get it at a chain pharmacy.  Why I ever thought they didn’t have the number to Eastgate Pharmacy is beyond me.  We only know what we know, right?  Last week I found out my allergist can call Eastgate to get a perscription filled.  I also found out that when you go in to one to get your prescription filled, it only takes five minutes.  The pharmacist or pharmacist assistant will get to know me by name and I may never have to ask for anything when I go in there.  Truth is, Rob had to get something filled, he decided to stick with Walgreens and wasn’t able to get his prescription for a full day.  My five minutes definitley beat that.

Convenience is really an inconvenience when you’re trying to shop locally.

The hardest lesson learned, and really the only negative one, happened because we are used to convenience.  The truth is, many local businesses aren’t open as late as chain stores (except for Meijer), and often they aren’t in the most convenient locations,  especially restaurants.  We left ourselves very hungry for a while when traveling up north and gave in to Taco Bell the Sunday we got our puppy.  It was weak of us to stop for Taco Bell, but we were on our way to Meijer, the only place open for us to get pet supplies, we were on 28th street and really had very limited choices.  Over the month I slowly began to realize that many local businesses, almost all are located in the downtown area of cities.  While traveling in the suburbs or along the highway, the only way to purchase local food is to travel quite a distance out of your way.  The convenience of other local businesses, where we could buy furniture and hardware became more and more of a pester as the month went on.  We did find though, that once these places are in your routine they are much nicer to go to.  Getting into the routine of shopping there is the hard part though.

These lessons were really all great ones.  Over the last month I learned a lot about myself, the routines I am in, and why I am in them.  It was great to step out of the box and get to know the local businesses in my community.  I am sure that moving forward I will shop at more local businesses, and leave the chain places to only have-tos.  Shopping locally is really just much more fun, and I have always experienced a better quality.

Thank you to Local First for helping me through the last month, and to Rob for taking the adventure with me.  I really recommend shopping locally if you have too, and now I have a little bit more knowledge about it, if you have any questions.

I recently got a chance to have coffee at Madcap Coffee Co. with Elissa Sangalli-Hillary, Executive Director of Local First.  We talked about my buying local challenge; Local First, then 25; the effects of buying and eating local, what Local First provides the community, and tips for how to eat and buy local.  I had many questions ready for Elissa, below are her answers to those questions.

What benefits does Local First provide the local businesses?

Local First’s members receive a long list of benefits.  Benefits for members include being listed in their directory (they distribute 10,000 hard copies), a free coupon in the Local First Coupon Book, co-marketing opportunities and purchasing of sustainable products with other Local First members, monthly educational networking events, and an annual conference.  Part of Local First’s mission is to provide the community with sustainable businesses and environmental kinship through education, the co-marketing opportunities and co-purchasing of sustainable products allows businesses to do both of these.

How does buying local affect our community?

Local First recently had a study done by Civic Economics to measure the  affect buying local has on the local economy.  The study, which focused on pharmacies, restaurants, grocery stores, and banks, provided some interesting results.  Although the study focused on the four specific segments it provided an overall assessment for shopping at locally owned businesses.  Overall, for every $100 spent locally $68 stay in the local economy, while if you spend that same $100 at a non-locally owned business only $43 stay in the local economy.  For the four segments the study provided a percentage of advantage to the circulation of revenue in the local economy to shopping at a locally owned business vs. it’s non-locally owned counterpart.

• Pharmacies – 77% more revenue circulated in the local economy
• Grocery – 17% more revenue circulated in the local economy
• Restaurants – 52.4% more revenue circulated in the local economy
• Banks – no percentage provided, the study mentioned if a person deposits their money at a local establishment there is an additional $137.3 million output to the local economy

What would you say to community members who believe buying local isn’t cost effective?

In my own personal experience, I  have purchased a lot of the produce locally at a much cheaper price, especially when I shop at the farmers market.   If you buy local now, the products you buy will be cheaper in the long run.  If more people buy local, more tax revenue will stay in the community, which will result in better infrastructure then in affect more local businesses.  Currently the only government incentive for businesses is typically tax incentives, and with government looking to bring big business into the state and community it is often hard for local businesses to receive these incentives.  We can change this by buying more locally now.

How about to people who think buying at local businesses isn’t convenient?

There are more local places then we think there are.  Actually, 50% if restaurants in Kent County are local, and a lot of times these restaurants are the cool, unique places to eat.  If you are having trouble finding a local place to shop or eat Local First has a hard copy directory and a list of their members on their website.  The Local First coupon book also provides a great set of coupons to local businesses you may not know are close to you.

Do you have any tips for people who want to start shopping at local businesses?

Always look for the yellow Local First diamonds in the business windows to tell whether a business is locally owned.  Join the buying local movement.  Our community is pushing to go back to the way things were, when we trusted the business owner rather than trusting the brand.  Don’t be afraid to ask businesses if they are buying their food locally, the more people the ask the more they may think about doing it.  Lastly, don’t be scared to eat locally it can be a fun adventure.  If you are unsure you can always give Local First a call.

Can everything be bought locally?

The short answer is no.  We will never be able to grow our own coffee or tropical fruit.  Although we won’t ever grow these things there are locally owned businesses selling them and some that may package the products here.  There are also many businesses exploring possibility to make products we typically buy out of the country.  There are rising costs associated with buying products out of the country, including higher transportation and energy costs.  If we begin to make more products locally we will have more safety, security and self-reliance.