Emily is about to go back to work as schools reopen for the fall semester. Yesterday we hit our favorite food pod for what Emily realized would be the last time she could meet me for a post-shift beer for the semester, and today we hit up a street fair.

Sitting in Belmont Station afterward for beer and writing, flush with the book, pins, stickers, and such we bought from local artists and businesses, I can’t help but think of some of the conversations we’ve had with and about the business owners we know.

One woman is at a farmers market and she makes Haitian marinades and sauces we love. The other day, Emily went by herself and Elsy handed her a new product. “Your husband is going to love this one.”

The owner of one of my favorite taprooms, when I asked for take-home recommendations, would look at the menu and go “I know you go for darker and sour beers, but your wife is gonna love this amber…”

Corporations are not people. Small Businesses are. Small business who have regulars, who know your name and who you build relationships with.

When they vanish, it’s not enough to just write a pseudo-political screed on social media or go “Awww but they’ve been there for so long and they were so good!”

If they were so good… why didn’t you buy from them?

The fact is that the “free market” is great until you wind up under it. Small businesses vanish for any number of reasons, but mostly because they can’t compete with bigger businesses that can soak a loss more easily.

If that cafe was so good, why did you always go to Applebee’s? Because they could afford to be cheaper, and you chose with your wallet. That shop may have been so cute and had such great stuff, but you knew you could buy it cheaper on Amazon.

So you did. You got a bargain, Jeff Bezos got a new yacht, and that cute little shop got out of business. Competition may be the “law of the jungle”, but we don’t live in a jungle. We shop with our convictions as much as we do our wallets.

There’s definitely a lot of privilege to spoken for here, of course. If you live in poverty, you need to buy the cheaper option regardless of how you feel about who is selling it. There’s no shame or guilt in that. We all do what we need to do. “Affix your own oxygen mask before assisting others” and all that.

My wife and I are by no means wealthy, but we do our best to find local businesses that we can support. Kroger have have great deals on produce, but Talarico’s Produce Stand has better variety and we know them. Safeway doesn’t know or care that I might get a kick out of spicy pineapple pickleez… but Elsy did, and told my wife so.

As we were walking around the street fair today, I got to talk to a lot of small business owners and workers. There were artists and painters trying to sell their own work, a few authors, and a few businesses Emily and I knew well.

One was my favorite tea shop where the owner also works as a server sometimes. Another was a small bookstore that I’ve frequented for a while, and the owner gave my wife a particular book she’d wanted for free because I was a “friend of the store.”

We bought pins and stickers, jewelry and shirts from people who were trying to make it, whatever “it” was- self-determination, some extra money, self-employment, supporting an important cause… instead of bigger companies at already had “it” and wanted more.

If you can, spend the extra money shopping small and local. You get more than just some goods, and we get more than a couple bucks. You also get a relationship in your community, and we get the knowledge that we can possibly make a living doing what we love.

Stay Classy,