‘Shop Local’ – is this something you do?

In this age of commercialism, the odds seemed stacked against the little guys. Bigger brands can roll with the punches of the pandemic much easier than a smaller outfit, and if you account for the numerous tax breaks and loopholes large chains and household name brands enjoy, any future Covid restrictions will affect them much less than the independents on our high streets—many of whom are saddled with years of payments from their Bounce Back Loans.

At this time of year, you’ll have seen posts and memes in your social feeds that urge you to ‘shop local’. There was a strong movement towards this in the early days of the pandemic, as people felt safer in their local farm shop or butchers than in their nearest large supermarket, where people tended to swarm. With nothing else to spend our disposable income on—because everything was closed—it wasn’t as much of an issue to pay a bit more for locally produced and homegrown foods, rather than cheaper but mass-produced, arguably less-flavoursome items on the supermarket shelves.

In those early days, I remember making several ‘discovery’ trips to my local farm shop, bakery and butchers. I could absolutely taste the difference in their meat, bread and deli products to items I tended to mindlessly pick up when popping into Morrisons when looking for ‘something nice to eat’. Food, at least, was one thing we could enjoy when everything else was off limits.

Fast forward a year and I haven’t been back to the farm shop, butchers or bakery for many months, despite vowing that I would continue to shop in these places. Not because I’ve changed my mind about the quality of the food they sell, but because my time became limited once restrictions lifted—and it’s simply more convenient to get everything I need in one fell swoop in the weekly shop, even if some of it is of inferior quality.

It’s not a conscious decision. It’s a habit. But if my shopping routine mirrors those of other people, how will small businesses survive what could be yet another difficult winter? If we’re all programmed to shlep into the supermarkets for every item on our shopping lists, how do we break the habit and make the effort to shop local without another lockdown forcing us to do so?

I don’t know the answer, but it wouldn’t hurt to be reminded of the benefits of shopping locally.