I am a proponent of spending locally. If you find something online for less than you can buy it locally, ask your local retailer if they will match the price. I did exactly that at Christmas. I bought personalized notecards for some of my friends. I found it online for a bargain. But I went to The Write Touch in San Marco and asked for a discount to match what I found online. They matched it. And the money went back into Jacksonville’s economy. My friend and colleague, Cinda Sherman, founder of Arbus Magazine has been promoting buying locally in the last few issues of her magazine. In her recent issue she quotes “For every $100 spent in a chain store, $14 goes back into the local economy. For a locally owned business $45 goes back.” (into your own economy) Don’t get me wrong, I love Amazon. But, I don’t want to support the Seattle, WA economy; I want to support Jacksonville’s economy. So, give it a try with your local retailers. See if they will match the price and get back to me. But don’t ask me to match the prices in India. I just can’t do it. You’ll just make me cranky. Well heck, I’ll just say it. We are almost as cheap as India.
I know we are more competitive now.