Buy Local, it makes a difference.

I had wonderful experience with a local business the other day. An experience that I could not have with one of those big box, or warehouse stores.
Let me back up. I came home the other day to hear words that no husband likes to hear. Another major appliance had failed. This time it was the clothes dryer. Now, I don't blame the dryer- it is a good dryer and serves us well. We do as much laundry in one day as most people do in a week and we rarely have to do any maintenance on it. The dryer was not heating up, which as you know slows the drying process considerably. After pulling the front plate off and determining that the ignitor was not working, I headed to our locally owned appliance sales and service shop part in hand. They've been in business since 1947... that is impressive. As with all locally owned shops, it is obvious that the arrival a few years ago of a national big-box superstore has affected their business, but thankfully they are still here. The owner knew within seconds what the problem was and had the replacement part in stock. She gave me some tips and advice about installation and maintenance- that is something the orange aprons would not be able to do. Armed with the replacement part and new knowledge, I headed home and had the dryer up and running again in minutes.
So, my encouragement is: do business with locally owned businesses as much as you can. You will probably get better service, a more knowledgable person to interact with, be supporting a neighbor or friend and even if it is not as convenient to make the extra effort or wait an extra day to do business locally- it is much appreciated by those who are struggling to stay afloat in this economy.