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Give More: Shop Indie Local

October 25, 2020 5:18 AM | TLC Monadnock (Administrator)

Even with a smaller budget, you can give more this holiday season. How? By joining the Shop Indie Local movement!  We’re purchasing more of our holiday gifts and celebration needs from our friends and neighbors -- locally owned business owners.  Please join us!

Why Shop Indie Local?

When you spend your dollars at locally owned retail businesses in the Monadnock Region, four times more money returns to our local economy than if you spend that same dollar at a chain store.  Spend a dollar at an independent business and 62 cents return to our local economy. (Spend it at a chain store and only 13 cents return; spend it at an online giant and only a couple pennies return.)

Those 62 cents recirculate through our economy, generating ripple effects that strengthen jobs, charitable contributions and community prosperity.  If everyone shifted just 10% of their purchases from national chains to locally owned retailers, we would return $27 million to our regional economy annually. 

Shop Indie Local and Give More (Fill in the Blank)

Think about the people you love. Instead of stuff, what do you truly want to give them?  Perhaps it’s more hope, inspiration or connection.  Now, consider each person, place and thing that plays a part in growing, making and getting that gift to your loved one.  When you Shop Indie Local, you give more to everyone.

For example, I want to give more hope to a dear friend.  I find a one-of-a-kind handmade lamp, one that I know will make my friend’s day a bit brighter.  The artist who made the lamp, closed out from their regular holiday events, feels a bit more hope that they’ll make it through 2020 and my friend feels more hope every time she clicks the lamp’s switch on.  What do you want to give more of this year? For ideas, please check out our new online marketplace, called TLC Monadnock Mercantile, officially launching on November 1.

Give More Support: Monadnock United Way

The Local Crowd Monadnock and Monadnock United Way are teaming up to strengthen our community.  Support Monadnock United Way’s Better Together: Building Equitable Communities in the Monadnock Region crowdfunding campaign on TLC Monadnock through November 13.

Give today!

Monadnock United Way and its partner agencies fight for children, education, and financial stability throughout our region.  With your support, we will lift up our region and make it vibrant in the face of hardship.

Plaid Friday

Wear plaid on Plaid Friday to show your support for our local economy and commitment to buying local this holiday season.  The day to wear plaid this year is Friday, November 27.

Some independent businesses will serve as Plaid Friday Hubs.  Hubs photograph customers decked out in plaid and answer questions about Plaid Friday and Monadnock Buy Local.  In addition to hubs, some members will offer special events to thank you for stopping in.  Stay tuned for more specials.

We will add all the photos taken to our annual collage, celebrating everyone who wore plaid to honor the day.  Check out our gallery of over 400 pictures from past Plaid Fridays.

Meet Chuck the Chinook

Here’s a gift that we received shortly after last year’s Plaid Friday.  Chuck the Chinook and his owner, Dan Brown, volunteered to inspire more participation in this year’s Plaid Friday event.

Chuck’s interest in Plaid Friday peaked after seeing last year’s poster highlighting another Keene-based dog named Chloe, owned by Cheryl Belair from The Insurance Source. Chloe was stoically sitting outside of Prime Roast Coffee Roasters on Main Street, sporting a plaid coat complete with plaid ear coverings. Chuck was smitten.

So, he and Dan dreamed up an annual pet photo contest, a fun way to educate people about Plaid Friday. We made Chuck the inaugural winner to get things started. “He now thinks of himself as an Economic Stimulus Chuck,” joked Dan. “As a sort of an Ambassa-dog, Chuck hopes everyone will join the Monadnock Plaid Friday gala, with the tag line: Wearing plaid gets a discount, ties optional.” Stay tuned for more Plaid Friday pet photo contest details!

Chinooks, the official state dog of New Hampshire, were bred as sled dogs in Tamworth, NH, by Arthur Treadwell Walden in 1917. Walden was an arctic explorer and sled dog driver. As an official state dog, Chuck takes none of our New Hampshire businesses for granite.  As big Buy Local fans, Chuck and Dan love Plaid Friday.

Why did Dan pick the name Chuck? “So, a person can enjoy chucking the chin of Chuck the Chinook,” answered Dan. “Chuck’s official AKC name is Forever Greene Moses Fisk. He was born to a mom from Vermont and a dad from here in Cheshire County.”

Plaid Friday Sponsors

A big THANK YOU to this year's Plaid Friday sponsors: Aloha Keene, Cheshire Horse, Deep Roots Massage, Food Connects, Monadnock Balloon Store, Monadnock Food Co-op, Ted's Shoe & Sport, The Toadstool Bookshops and The Works Café. Own an independent business?  It’s not too late to jump in and participate.  Contact us today at jen@thelocalcrowd.com.  Also, please stay tuned for updates in our next Shopper News article.


The Local Crowd Monadnock - Mailing Address: 63 Emerald St. #114, Keene, NH 03431

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