- [Jack] Hello, and welcome to episode 15
It is great to have you with me today.
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Now, today we're going to talk about shopping local
And this just means buying things from businesses
which are native to your area.
buying shoes from a local shoe shop,
one that is based in the city where you live,
versus buying shoes online from Amazon.
So there's a big difference here and I'm going to talk about
how this trend has changed over the years.
I'm gonna talk about some stories from my childhood too,
which is going to be great listening practice for you.
And then I'm just gonna give some thoughts
on what I'm trying to do and why I think this is important.
which you can watch or listen to,
which I'll put a link in the description,
and how it's so easy these days to fall into the habit
of just buying something online
and getting everything online because of convenience.
And this trend rocketed last year when coronavirus happened
and shops closed down and the only way you could buy stuff
And I think people have fallen
into the habit of doing this now,
This was a trend that was happening anyway,
but it really just took off last year due to what happened.
I want to give you three statistics
when it comes to buying local.
And I think these are really interesting.
Okay, so the first one is this
small businesses of 500 or fewer employees
make up over 99% of US employer firms.
So small businesses of 500 or fewer employees,
make up over 99% of US employer firms.
So the majority, the vast majority
of businesses in the US are small businesses.
Now, speaking of Amazon, here is a stat,
in just one year, Amazon displaced 62,000 shops
So Amazon displaced 62,000 shops and 900,000 retail jobs.
And the last stat here is that
the lockdowns caused over 100,000 of local small businesses
So this has been a big trend as well,
where a lot of small businesses had to close permanently,
due to the restrictions placed by local and big governments.
So I think these three stats really highlight two things,
the importance of buying local
if you care about local businesses
but also just the trend that is happening at the moment,
are really taking over local businesses,
and this has been happening for years now.
And I think there are two ways to look at this
when you're thinking about this and the implications.
And the first one is to say, well this is happening
and it's very difficult to stop.
This is a trend that is just going to accelerate
and it's going to be very difficult for that trend to stop.
And you can think about things in the past where,
in the UK, during the Industrial Revolution,
and elsewhere too, in France, the Luddites
who wanted to stop the machines coming in
when it came to producing cotton and other materials.
And you can see this all the time
when a new type of industry comes in, like Uber,
which has taken over traditional taxi cabs.
where there have been big protests
for example, in France, from taxi drivers
against companies such as Uber.
But it's one of these things where you think, okay,
is this a trend that's going to happen anyway?
Is automation and online shopping and apps like Uber,
are they just going to take over?
Is that the trend that is going to happen
and we can't do anything about it?
And the second way to look at it is to think,
what do I think is best in these situations?
change these types of trends and behaviors?
And personally, I think it is super important to buy local,
and the stats that I shared before talk about this.
And another stat here to highlight it is that
if every US family spent just $10 extra locally,
instead of at a big box or national trade chain,
so if they spent $10 on a local company
over 9.3 billion would be directly returned
So the benefit of buying local is it's going to benefit
your local economy, because when you spend money in stores
where the people who own the stores live in your local area
then that money is going to stay in the local area
instead of going to people who work in different cities
and to a company that is just going to take the money
Now, before I go on about some of my habits,
I do wanna talk about what it was like growing up in the UK
and just how much more emphasis there was on buying local
and just how much more of a way of life it was.
there wasn't anything like online shopping,
but there was the emergence of big box stores,
big companies, national companies
So if you went to the center of Preston,
the city or town where I grew up,
then in the past there would have been
So people who were selling jewelry, food, clothes,
all on the market or on the high street.
But then that changed a lot I think in the 70s, 80s, 90s
where the big box stores, the big companies
and basically ran all the small businesses out of business.
But what I remember growing up
is something a little bit different,
because I used to have a milk round
where I used to deliver milk to people's houses.
And in the past, the vast majority of people
got their milk from the local milkmen.
people didn't get milk from the supermarket,
And we also had other things delivered too,
like the the fishman would come over once a week in his van
and you would go out to the van and buy fish
And then you would go to the local market or the butcher's
And all these companies, businesses were local businesses.
So you wouldn't go to the supermarket to get the milk,
instead, you would get these from three different places.
And I used to have a milk round
where I delivered the milk to people's doors.
This job was brutal because I used to do it
from 5:00 till 7:00 in the morning.
and I did it in the winter, it was freezing cold.
And then I went to school for the rest of the day so,
that was one of the toughest jobs I've had.
And I'm not sure the reason why it has changed so much.
I think a big reason is convenience,
stock everything that you needed including clothes and toys
So you could go to one shop once a week
and get everything that you need.
And also think that a lot of families now have
the two parents working all the time.
And obviously this is based on Western countries,
countries like the UK and the US and my experience of that.
But it'd be also interesting to know
what it's like where you live too.
So if there's a comment section below,
please just give me your thoughts on this
and how it has changed over the years.
two parents are now working full time,
you don't really have the ability for one parent
to be able to go and do all these things
and then go to different shops and buy local
and going from supermarkets to having everything,
now, we're really starting the emergence
And one of the good news stories for local businesses
is that they can also get part of this
So for example, I am trying to be more conscious
and I'm trying to buy more things from local businesses.
And one of the things I'm doing is
and I've been doing this for a while actually
because the meat is high quality,
they have good practices, and again,
it keeps the money within the local economy,
So that's one thing I'm trying to do more of
and just make that more part of my life.
And another thing that has really taken off
I think over the last 10 to 15 years in the US
And this is where farmers will bring their produce,
but also you get cheeses and meat and other products too.
And they'll bring them to an area
in different areas around town,
and then you can go there and buy directly from the farmer.
And this is another way for people to buy local.
And it also brings about that community element too
because usually there is music,
you see the same people that all the time,
and you're engaging with farmers in a real way.
And just to go back to the online shopping part,
like I said a lot of businesses now
so that you can buy online from them
So I know a few people who own businesses,
including restaurants in the area where I live
and they've started to do a lot more of that.
This started really from the coronavirus lockdowns
where people, while businesses
the only way they could survive was to deliver things,
so this is happening with alcohol,
we know people who own a coffee company now
who are delivering local coffee,
people who have a tea company delivering local tea.
So there are ways to marry, which means mix
the ability or the convenience of buying online
And just one of the differences that
and this goes back to a podcast episode I did
where I talked about getting around cities.
And this is comparing mainly places like Spain to the US
where people are more reliant on the car in the US
It's very difficult to walk places in certain cities.
And like I said, New York and places like Chicago,
But when you go to small town, America, it's quite difficult
or small cities, it's difficult to walk around town,
which means that you can't just walk and go past local shops
instead you get in your car, you go to shops in your car.
the breakdown of local communities in a way
and it's difficult to then reinvest and to buy local
when you don't feel part of that community.
So I think the farmer's market is a great thing
but if we do have that detachment from local communities,
the ability to buy online from local companies
So hopefully that has given you
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