Shopping for beauty and fashion products these days is often about trying to keep up with “fast fashion” and the latest trends in colors, shades and skin care regimens. This is largely based on the ability of big corporations to push products out to their customers quickly through vast distribution chains. Greater Prescott has quite a few of those national chains and big boxes ready to pump those shoes and dresses and mascaras and foundations. But making as many purchases as possible at small, locally owned businesses does so much good for so many in our communities.
1. We keep up to four times more of our money circulating in the Greater Prescott economy.
2. We save money — local retailers are often more affordable than their corporate counterparts.
3. We support the shops, restaurants and services that make Greater Prescott unique.
4. Local businesses contribute more to local charities than national or regional corporations.
5. We create more jobs for Greater Prescott by shopping local businesses, which also tend to shop local.
6. Shopping local leaves a smaller environmental footprint, especially compared with online commerce.
7. Supporting diverse local businesses provides more competition to national chains, driving prices down across the board.
8. Communities with a healthy small-business sector tend to have healthier residents, too!
9. Local businesses depend on customer loyalty to survive, which drives them to provide excellent customer service.
10. Greater Prescott prospers with a diverse economy driven by local businesses invested in our communities, supporting other local businesses and nonprofits and providing top-tier customer service to our residents.
Local vendors may not have the same trucks and vast networks as their corporate competitors, but shipping of all kinds has become more sophisticated than ever, so your favorite boutique in historic downtown Prescott, or out on AZ-69 in Prescott Valley or AZ-89 in Chino, won’t be far behind at all with the latest blouses or accessories.
And if you can’t find exactly what you’re looking for at the big boxes, forget having them look outside their usual suppliers to find it. Our local merchants, on the other hand, are ready to scour the earth to find exactly what you need.
The sales team you find at local stores is more likely to have been at the store for a while and know the ins and outs and how to get what you want in stock. They are also more versed in basic style principles and know which clothes, colors or cosmetics will make you look your most fabulous!
And if you are not wanting to shop in-person for health reasons, many local businesses are making accommodations such as pickup or delivery services to keep their clients supplied and satisfied.
There is one thing that makes shopping local particularly relevant to us here in Greater Prescott — we haven’t been completely overrun by nationwide chains yet.
The national chains are here, to be sure, but in most cases they have one location, particularly when it comes to fashion or cosmetics behemoths.
This gives our local entrepreneurs more room to breathe, experiment, build a following.
So let’s support our local entrepreneurs whenever possible.
Most of our hairdressers and aestheticians are their own bosses even if they work in a larger salon or spa, so we should continue to visit them as often as we can and tip as generously as we can afford.
Our local fashion and personal care boutiques and service providers are our friends and neighbors, their kids are friends with our kids. They live in our communities as they strive to maintain their identities as a smaller-scale, independent neck of the woods with downtowns and neighborhoods vibrant with commercial life.
Let’s help each other out.
