For about a month, I've made a concerted effort to buy merchandise from small, neighborhood businesses--the pharmacy, the bookstore, and the hardware store, among them--instead of big conglomerates. Even if I only spend 10 or 15 dollars in one visit at those places, it always feels like it matters a lot more to those stores than it would to big chain stores. There's the added bonus of feeling like more than just a number when you shop there.
Another way of saying this: About 15 years ago, I went to a record store. The clerk told me the store was having trouble selling the reissued "1962-1966" and "1967-1970" Beatles LPs.
"We figured, 'It's the Beatles,'" he said. "People are always collecting Beatle albums. We thought, 'Surely, if we order five copies of each album, they'll sell.' They haven't sold, though. People walk past them and say, 'Oh, look! Vinyl! Wow! Neat!' They don't buy them, though."
After too many years of driving past small, local businesses that need my support, I decided I didn't want to be the customer who walks past the LPs, metaphorically speaking, and just says, "Vinyl! Wow! Neat!" without buying anything. My conscience feels better, as a result.
