Shop Local This Tax-Free Weekend.

I haven’t been to a mall in seven months and it could easily be seven more before I return to one. There’s no appeal for me. Rarely do I find a deal that makes the trip worthwhile and having to park a zip code away from the front entrance never did it for me. And dodging perfume-sodden kiosks is like being in a bad video game.

I admit that I shop online occasionally. But it’s in moderation. Actually, it’s more like I’m on a constant shopping fast and when I get hungry, I only have a small nibble every few months. I get no sustenance from the Amazons of the (cyber) world.

Instead, I shop small and I shop local. True, being a business owner in downtown Concord makes that pretty easy for me. I’m there anyway, right? There’s something to that, sure.

But being in Concord has enabled me to see that just about anything I need is within walking distance among all the other small shops and businesses. In fact, I’m hoping to abandoned my Sales Manager for an hour or so today to do some tax-free shopping of my own on Walden Street!

How about you? Do you have a shopping strategy for the weekend? A stroll through downtown Concord on a beautiful summer day might be the right angle. You might not find that 700-inch plasma TV but you’ll get the unique “hands-on” shopping experience from a wide variety of merchants from one front door to the next. And you can easily visit four or five great shops in an hour or less. I think it took me that long to find the right Best Buy web link last time I tried.

Concord Cookware will be open both days from 10AM to 5:30PM and most other downtown merchants will have similar hours. Have a look at our tidied up store-front and drop in to say hello. Then grab a bite to eat nearby and enjoy a visit to our neighbors on Main and Walden Streets. The virtual shopping cart can wait ’til this evening, can’t it?