Dear Blog Readers,
We have become the kind of blogger we never wanted to be — the kind who has a "read our blog" button on our website but the newest post is months old. We blame Facebook for this — it's so much easier to write something there and we seem to have more followers there than we did here on the blog. Still, we can't quite bring ourselves to give it up altogether yet — so instead, we're posting this little note to explain our lack of current entries. Please do check out our facebook page, we think it's fun, if not quite as long form.
sincerely, the Joie de Blogger.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Cambridge Local - First?

A friend of mine apologized to me recently. "I'm sorry I didn't shop at your store this Christmas." He added, "I did all my shopping locally." This particular friend lives in Newburyport, a charming seaside town with lots of independent stores. I reassured him that I would forgive him - at least this one time - but the conversation got me thinking. I've been a member of Cambridge Local First since its beginning, but something about it has always bothered me - and it's the "Cambridge" aspect of it. What I think is really important is supporting small local businesses - and I don't care if they're in Cambridge, Somerville, Newburyport, or even goods that come from a small village in India. If it's small, personal and independent - that's good enough for me. I've brought this up time and time again at CLF meetings, asking if we couldn't make the stickers they give us to put on our doors say "Shop Local" and maybe then in smaller letters, "Member, Shop Local, Cambridge MA". This has never gone over well, so I still have a Cambridge Local First on my door. It may be time to take it down and replace it with the "Shop Small Stores" stickers I've seen elsewhere. I don't know - I really don't feel I should expect my customers to only shop in Cambridge just because they live here - and I certainly want my customers, who come from all over, to keep coming to Joie!
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1 comment:

  1. Rachael SolemJanuary 23, 2012 at 10:26 AM

    Hello
    Your blog brought up some interesting points and I have these thoughts:
    Of course, the message to all consumers is to Think Local First. As someone who runs a hotel, I wish to avoid the verb Shop, since that suggests only retail consumption. Also, as a hotelier, I recognize that my guests are coming from other places, that my clientele are, almost by definition, NOT local to Cambridge.
    I remain proud to wear my CLF 'badge' because it is a brand now that is recognized by Cambridge residents and locavores everywhere.
    There will always be different interpretations of Local. We can only promote the one that makes the most sense to our mission and members. It is very much in line with your own definition: "small, personal and independent." As 'local' becomes the new 'exotic' with its own cache, it will continue to be used by big stores (isn't Target renting small spaces to independent businesses now? Whole Foods been offering local produce and specialty items for a while?) any way they wish. We will continue to send out the message that independent owners, accessible to our customers and committed to the community in which we do business, is what we mean by local.
    Rachael Solem, Co-Chair, Cambridge Local First, Owner, Irving House at Harvard

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