Community Corner

Do You Support Local Business or the National Chains- or Both?

As Black Friday approaches more and more attention is focused on the state of retail sales and the health of small businesses across the U.S.

Do you get your coffee at the local coffee shop or Starbucks?  When you’re looking for a musical instrument is ABC Music in Livermore and Benicia your first thought?  When you need a new lamp do you go to Custom Lamps and Shades on Solano Avenue in Berkeley or is Lamps Plus a better choice for you?

Throughout the East Bay, the Diablo Valley and the Tri-Valley there are small businesses competing for your dollars against national retailers like Best Buy or Barnes and Noble.

We asked the followers of our Patch Facebook pages the following: Is it realistic to believe that small locally owned businesses can compete with national chain specialty stores like Lamps Plus, Starbuck's and Barnes and Noble? When you have the chance, do you usually support the locally owned store over the big name national brand store?

Find out what's happening in Martinezwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Here’s what we heard.

Megan Windell wrote on the Martinez Patch Facebook page,  “I love when downtown martinez has events like the zombie brew crawl to get us downtown and into the businesses. Because of events like this I have gone into stores that I normally wouldnt give a second thought to.”

Find out what's happening in Martinezwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Hannah Pearce in Lamorinda wrote, I like to buy from locally owned businesses and shops. Use it or lose it.”

Marty Green in Danville had this to say, “Is it realistic for them to compete? Absolutely not. Yes there are people who try to use the mom and pop shops but most can't get over spending more up front vs saving a few bucks but paying for it later. The big stores get incentives when they open.. Tax cuts, rebates, infrastructure upgrades... Walmart, home depot, lowes, costco.. Their stores are always busy but they are not paying their share back into the community like the small stores. If people thought about the cost of cheap products Walmart and McDonald's would be out of business.”

There is even a new shopping day called Small Business Saturday.   It’s a marketing vehicle that encourages people to support the locally owned small businesses in their towns by shopping at those businesses the day after Black Friday..

What do you think?  How important is it to shop locally?  Tell us in comments.


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