Support your local traders & retailers this Christmas

About a month ago, one of my Facebook friends posted about supporting local and independent traders and retailers. I was fairly dismissive of it at first – it’s a horribly middle class statement in the same lines as going organic. But then I began to think about it and remembered another friend who makes amazing crafts and sells second-hand vintage whatnottery, I was struggling with ideas for my wife, so I sent her a text message to see if she had anything in stock she would like. Turns out she did, and it was perfect.

Since then my wife and I have purchased a number of her handmade products for various family members, at full cost, which was still really reasonable.

Including one these awesome handmade, leather owl purses….

Now I might seem fairly hypocritical saying this since I love shopping on Amazon. It’s convenient; usually the cheapest option and I can get almost everything I want.

Some argue that it’s contributing to the increasingly desolate High Streets, and in some ways it is. But I can do without rude staff and the poorly stocked stores selling the same expensive junk I can get online. Instead, my wife and I would rather look for places with character, staffed by passionate people selling unique products which I can’t get online. Places like Traders Outlet in Sale, Electric Slims in Failsworth, The Traditional Flower Co in Stone, Treacle Market in Macclesfield and my awesome friend, Rachel’s Boutique.

A lot of folk believe there’s a premium attached to these kinds of retailers and that’s often a fairly common misconception. Buying from markets and those selling exclusively online or in mills means that you’re not paying for expensive overheads. Of course there are upper end traders, but then that’s true of anything, it just takes a little time and effort to route these places out, which is actually really fun.

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