Shop Local Campaigns Harm Big Booties
There it was. The perfect combination of cotton, blue dye, and ruffles that I ever did see. It draped the mannequin picking up the wind here and there. I wanted it. Previous attempts at finding a similar style failed even with an encouraging coupon.
I walked into the boutique store on the historic main street and gazed at their wares. I spotted a pair of Free People shoes and suddenly got cold feet. How much was that dress going to be? I encountered the sales person and inquired about the blue dress on the mannequin outside. “Do you have any more?” I asked. She said they did, they came in sizes 2, 4, 6, and 8. I half expected her to say “You can try Sears” but that would have been too perfect.
I politely thanked her and walked out, saddened as I passed by my sartorial soulmate. It was not to be, my friend. Not sooner had I whispered those bittersweet words of goodbye to my dress that the wind directed another piece of fabric, right into my face. I jerked back, stunned and righted myself before noticing the fabric was a flag, its bright colors standing out from the brick background heralding “shop small, shop local.”
Perfect. Isn’t that what I had tried to do? Give a little bit of my earnings to a sweet little shop offering glittering goods of all kinds? What did I get? The option to go to Sears or some other larger store to try to find something to fit my booty.
But what could I expect, as a small local business, you have to be discerning in the stock you hold. There’s not a lot of space and the diversity of clientele just doesn’t exist in a small town. In clothing especially, body sizes intersect with stylistic preferences. I *could* visit a women’s store around the corner but the style wouldn’t be mine. The clothes would fit, but the costumes from Mrs. Doubtfire weren’t exactly the 90’s trend that had come back in style.
Shop local campaigns may be heralded as the only way for small independent businesses to stay afloat in the age of drone delivery and one-touch online ordering, but make no mistake, they are not without unintended consequences. Like harm to big booties.
