In Field of Dreams, a mysterious voice from the cornfield whispers to Kevin Costner, “If you build it, they will come.”
But that’s a movie. In reality supply follows demand, not the other way around. The voice from the cornfield should have been whispering “If you want it, you must use it.”
Over the past month, four Penticton businesses have either closed, or announced they are closing. Cormak Inc. is closing its Ricki’s, Cleo and Bootlegger outlets in Cherry Lane Shopping Centre and Corrie Corfield closed her Dogtown Coffee Co. last month. If you include Dogtown’s original Okanagan Falls location, that’s a total of five businesses leaving the area.
Penticton isn’t a big enough city for retailers to match every whim of shoppers. If you are after the $10,000 gold-plated Apple iWatch, you aren’t likely to find it at a local retailer. But local retailers can meet the majority of shoppers needs and desires.
That won’t be true, however, if shoppers head online, to neighbouring cities, or down across the border in search of bargains that often don’t turn out to be as good a deal, once you start adding in travel or shipping costs.
If we want to be able to shop for more than just the basic necessities of life, it’s up to us, the consumer. Shopping local helps local businesses to thrive and encourages more to locate here.
But shopping local isn’t something we do just to line the pockets of store owners. Spending your dollars locally means not only supporting the business you are purchasing from, but their families, as well as their employees and their families and all the businesses those people shop at.
It’s an infinite cycle of support that starts when you make as simple a decision as choosing to purchase an Okanagan apple rather than an import that costs a penny less a pound.
