While independent paint and hardware retailers continue to gain share, in other segments independents businesses falter. THE fallout of an economy nearly belligerent towards small businesses.
Though this pharmacist believes he can swim against that tide, which he knows begins with the right location!
I’ve borne my own quest to stem that tide most recently as a SCORE mentor working with small businesses across the range of NAICS codes, plus my efforts here as an advocate for paint dealers. And while mentoring and blogging have had their effects it’s only dollars which move markets, so as a consumer I prioritize locally-owned businesses every time I need to spend a buck!
Among the beneficiaries of that practice is specialty food retailer Palmer’s Market, a fifth-generation Stamford butcher shop transformed into the city’s best food source. Even from their toney digs in nearby Darien.
A purveyor of locally and regionally grown and packaged foods Palmer’s sources eggs, cereals, cheeses, produce and condiments from within Connecticut and the surrounding New England states, allowing my dollars to multiply their economic value each time Palmer’s restocks the shelves.
In-fact each dollar spent with a locally-owned business is worth four-times as much to the state’s economy as it would have been had I made those same purchases from a national retail corporation!
For fruits and vegetables in-season and meat and poultry year-round it’s Ox Hollow Farms, one of many family-owned farms who make their bounties available at area farmer’s markets. The Berkshire pork and chicken from Ox Hollow are raised in pastures you can tour, while their fruits and vegetables are planted and harvested by hand.
Making it unlikely that you’ll find Ox Hollow’s name on the FDA’s list of food recalls.
And while my buying habits may cost a few extra dollars, like a painter choosing an independent Benjamin Moore retailer over a company-owned store I’m getting a lot for my money. Because I was not among the more than 128,000 Americans hospitalized last year due to food-borne illnesses.
Nor was I among the more than 3,000 who died for that same reason!
Soiled Legacy
Independent news sources are more likely to be truthful and free of the biases legacy media is now known for, independent’s not-for-profit business models rebuffing the root cause of most bias.
For national and world news I subscribe to The Guardian and ProPublica, independent publications rated as “Middle or Balanced” by experts in such things. The bias’s absence leaves room for independent investigative journalism, while also saving Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos the trouble of folding another dollar.
For independent local news there’s the CT Mirror, which does a better job covering corruption in the state than would Bezos’ Connecticut bureau–were he to still have one. That leaves independent YouTube and Tik Tok creators to fill in any gaps, such as my interests in college football.
Which currently are piqued!
Lucky for Him
One person who valued independents far-less than I do was King George III, King of England from 1760-1820. It was George’s unwillingness to redress colonists 27 grievances which led to the War of Independence, famously among those grievances the King’s imposition of taxes “without our consent.”
A grievance I still suffer nearly 250-years later, though there’s no declaring independence from the IRS.
But having recently spent two-weeks traveling through King George’s dominion, I find it possible that the colonist may have had his Majesty all wrong. Politer than most peoples, the Brits were wonderful company as we traipsed across the isles leaving me to wonder if revolutionaries in 1776 weren’t a bit too hasty?
But after two-weeks on his islands I returned with a 28th grievance to take up with the monarch: the lack of access to legal marijuana in the United Kingdom,, which left me wondering what makes them so polite?
I resolved to redress the injustice with the current monarch, determining that upon my return I’d pen a missive lambasting the offense. Seething in my withdrawals I decided the letter would be the second thing I‘d do after walking in the house!
Luckily for His Majesty, THE first thing I did significantly calmed my ire.
