Shopping Local: What Does It Really Mean?

In 2010, American Express created "Small Business Saturday" to encourage holiday shoppers to patronize local stores that often struggle to compete against big-box retailers and online deals. A yearlong sidekick to Small Business Saturday is the broader "shop local" sentiment expressed by local business organizations throughout the country.

But when you live in a place like Evergreen Park, what does "shop local" mean? We are surrounded by Chicago neighborhoods and two other suburbs, each with their own local businesses. So does "shop local" mean "shop only in Evergreen Park?" There was a time when that might have been possible, when was in its prime and before the Great Recession took its toll on local businesses.

One can shop for a whole lot of things in Evergreen Park, from groceries to a snow blower to a car, so long as the car you want is a Kia, a used car, or both. We have good restaurants, including Italian, Mexican, Chinese and American fare. There's a bike shop, and a bakery. There are banks (although no "Bank of Evergreen Park"). You can get your lawn mower blades sharpened, if you're not up for doing it yourself, and you can buy gas and get your car serviced. You can even get your car washed.

Off the top of my head, there seems to be few things one would need in a normal, everyday life that could not be bought here in Evergreen Park. There is no local sporting goods store, however, and to my knowledge no local office supply store. One could buy sporting goods at and office supplies at on 95^th Street. I don't think there's a tire store, or a local electronics shop for TVs, stereos and the like. There's no local music store, or a local crafts store.

Now, consider Oak Lawn, which is decidedly not Evergreen Park. Oak Lawn is literally a stone's throw away for me. It has a locally-owned music store on 95^th Street between Cicero and the railroad tracks. Right next to that is a local craft store. Oak Lawn has double the population of Evergreen Park and without actually counting, probably double the businesses, too.

So, does shopping in Oak Lawn count as shopping "local?" If so, what about Palos Hills? Just before Christmas I dropped in to the Palos Golf store to buy a gift and had a nice talk with Tom Thoss, a UW-Madison grad from way back. We talked about the Rose Bowl – which I will of course point out that Oregon won – and about how he got his start selling golf supplies. I'd go back and buy more from him because he seemed like a nice guy and I'd know some of what I spent in his store was actually going into his pocket, not the pocket of some giant retail company, or worse, that company's shareholders.

It's the same sentiment I hear from longtime Evergreen Parkers when they talk about eating at certain restaurants, or buying hardware at the Ace on 95^th Street. They shop there because they know people, and they like knowing where their money is going.

But that brings me back to my original question. What does it mean to "shop local?" How far can I go away from Evergreen Park to get what I want and still consider myself a local shopper? And which is more local – buying a golf bag from Walmart because it's in Evergreen Park or buying one from Palos Golf?

Maybe there is no mileage stipulation. Maybe the goal should be to identify an item you want to buy and figure out if there's a locally-owned store that sells it. If not, find the nearest locally-owned store and buy the item there. Maybe that store is in Oak Lawn, or Beverly, or Midlothian.

If you're pressed for time, as so many of us are these days, that can sound like a lot of work. It's so much easier to hop in the car and drive up to Target, or Kmart, or Walmart and pick up the cheapest, most convenient made-in-China equivalent.

I say, it's a new year, and maybe time for a new outlook on retailing.

What do you think? What does "shopping locally" mean to you? And how often do you do it?