{"id":6908,"date":"2012-11-22T07:46:05","date_gmt":"2012-11-22T12:46:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/?p=6908"},"modified":"2012-11-22T07:49:25","modified_gmt":"2012-11-22T12:49:25","slug":"this-holiday-season-shop-local","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/2012\/11\/22\/this-holiday-season-shop-local\/","title":{"rendered":"This holiday season, shop local"},"content":{"rendered":"

We don’t often dole out straight-up advocacy here on the In Box, but this\u00a0holiday season\u00a0I want you to at least consider a specific, no-holds-bar appeal:\u00a0 Shop local.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

Wherever you are across the North Country, keep in mind all the things that your local, brick-and-mortar (and preferably, mom-and-pop) retailer does for your community.<\/p>\n

You want a thriving, bustling downtown?\u00a0 This is one of those moments when you can help make that happen.\u00a0 Are you happy that there are local artists and artisans still working in our region?\u00a0 Your gift-giving this holiday season can re-enforce that cool thing.<\/p>\n

Do you want shops and local enterpreneurs that donate to local causes?\u00a0 You help make that happen over the next few days.<\/p>\n

I know a lot of people are anxious about the commercialism and money-driven qualities that have pervaded the holiday season.\u00a0 This is one way to put a very clear, healthy frame around your gift-buying.\u00a0 Your interactions with your neighbors will be\u00a0more meaningful.\u00a0 The things you buy will be more real, more substantive, more connected to our place.<\/p>\n

Finally, I want to make a pitch for muddling through the ‘inconvenience’ of local shopping.\u00a0 I know that walking shop to shop in your town may seem less convenient.\u00a0 Maybe in your rural area, you have to actually drive to two or three neighboring villages to get to retailers who have the things you want and need.<\/p>\n

Especially this time of year, those little pilgrimages can have big pay-offs.\u00a0 You’ll run into people you haven’t seen for a while.\u00a0 You’ll have a chance to explore your own back yard a bit.\u00a0 Getting everything at one superstore — let’s face it — just doesn’t have the same energy or spirit.<\/p>\n

I think you’ll also find that our region has a lot more to offer than you might realize.<\/p>\n

Many of our small towns still have remarkably vibrant commercial districts, with innovative, wordly business people.\u00a0 Give them a fresh look.\u00a0 If you can leave a few more of your dollars here in the North Country this weekend, it will mean jobs and vitality in ways that are hard to calculate.<\/p>\n

Yes, in some places the goods and services cost a little more, though the price differences often turn out to be a lot less than you think.\u00a0 And you often wind up buying higher quality stuff that was produced more ethically.<\/p>\n

Socially responsible spending this holiday season — the easiest shortcut is to stay local.\u00a0 Happy Thanksgiving!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We don’t often dole out straight-up advocacy here on the In Box, but this\u00a0holiday season\u00a0I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6908"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6908"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6908\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6909,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6908\/revisions\/6909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}