Boutiques, Bakeries, Butchers - Where did all the small businesses go?

I am quite sure my grandparents knew the name of their milkman. They also knew where he lived and the names of his wife and kids. My grandparents knew their milkman like a friend. They also knew their butcher, their grocer, and their mechanic. When my grandmother needed new make-up or perfume, she called her Avon lady. When the vacuum broke, she called her vacuum salesman. In the days of my childhood, I saw a world where commerce and doing business was a byproduct of relationships. You didn’t just buy things, you contributed to someone else’s livelihood. In the process of putting food on your table, you put some on your neighbor’s table too. Back then, you didn’t shop on a screen, place an order with a click of a button, and have your order delivered to your doorstep in 24 hours. However, back then, neighbors shared in each other’s good fortunes. For many, their livelihoods contributed to the livelihoods of the people all around them. And this is how wealth was distributed. People took care of each other.

In October of 2020 I significantly reduced buying personal goods from Amazon (and other conglomerates like them). Up until then, Amazon was my go-to place for buying everything, books, clothes, gifts, protein supplements, and even sometimes food. They make it so easy, don’t they? Amazon always knew what I needed before I knew what I needed. Kind of freaky, but I thought it was cool. When it came to books, Amazon hand picked all the books that it knew I would love. Not only that, I never had to put in my credit card information, it was always saved. It was one-click shopping. In fact, it was even worse than that, because Amazon was practically doing the shopping too, so I wasn’t even doing that. I just had to press a little button each week and my stuff would magically appear.

But at what cost? 

No, I’m not talking about the cost of the stuff I was buying. Arguably, Amazon and the others have that figured out too. You usually cannot buy stuff cheaper than Amazon. No, I’m talking about the real cost, the price to humanity. What happens in a world where we no longer know whom we are buying from? What happens in a world where the family paycheck no longer supports the family paychecks of those around them? What happens in a world where people don’t consider enough what they are buying, whom they are buying from, or how it was made?

The price being paid for one-click shopping is playing out all around you in the world right now.

The cost is your community -

When everything we buy is from one or two of the richest companies in the world, the true price being paid is your community. You lose your bakeries, boutiques, mechanics, and your artists. Those are more than just businesses, they are your neighbors (they are you and me).

The cost is more government –

When businesses leave, so too do jobs. When jobs leave, it’s government subsidies that pick up the slack. Of course, the government can step in and fix it, but at a price. Ultimately, it is a very dangerous price.

The cost is planetary devastation, child exploitation, child labor, and animal cruelty to mention just a few –

Check out the label on the shirt or shoes you are wearing or the dishes you just purchased. Who made them? Where did they come from? 

The cost is everything above and the price being paid is of an insulting quality and the absence of love –

I recently decided it was time to replace my old warn-out bedspread that was purchased from one of the conglomerates many years ago. I decided to visit Etsy, one example of a site made up of crafters and artisans from around the world. I found an artisan that makes quilts and ordered a handmade quilt for my bed. Below is a picture of the quilt and the note that the artisan sent along with it. There is a human impacted by the purchase of the quilt, just like from the days of our grandparents. What you cannot see in the photo is the quality. The quilt is so heavy and so warm, unlike any other bedspread I’ve ever had. Could this be because it was not churned out by a machine in Indonesia? Maybe because it was made with love.

It is very difficult to watch many of the things going on in the world today, even more so because we oftentimes feel powerless to change them. In fact, we have to change things. As real estate agents, it is just a matter of time before Amazon (or a company like it) replaces you too. But that’s not the most important reason why. We owe it to the future generations we love. We don’t need to (and can’t) depend on the government to fix the world we live in. We don’t need to (and can’t) hope that the conglomerates care to fix things. It’s up to us to think about the consequences of every dollar we spend and action we take and how these impact local businesses, our communities, and all of humanity for many generations to come. Everything you do from now on matters. You choose. Wisely, I hope.