Originally published in the Monadnock Shopper News
November 1st marks the start of our sixth annual Shift Your Shopping season in the Monadnock Region. Something new this year: We’re kicking off the season with a Shift Your Shopping Launch Party at the Farmers’ Market of Keene on Gilbo Avenue this Saturday, October 29th from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Come pick up a hot off the press copy of this year’s Monadnock Buy Local Guide. All Monadnock Buy Local members (citizen members included!) who pick up guides on the 29th will be entered into a raffle for a chance to win one of five $100 gift certificates to the Monadnock Buy Local Member business of their choice. Not yet a citizen member? Learn more at monadnocklocal.org/citizen. We'll also have free Plaid Friday, Cider Monday, Small Business Saturday and Shift Your Shopping swag for you to take -- including our new Plaid Friday temporary tattoos. Finally, we’ll have Keene Downtown Group's Local First Night bags. Pick one up and take it to participating businesses on November 5th for 20% off one item. See you at the Shift Your Shopping Launch Party!
From November 1st to December 31st each year, Monadnock Buy Local works extra hard to ensure that your spending matches the community values you support. To make our efforts strong, we participate in the Shift Your Shopping movement. This nationwide movement encourages you to support job creation and economic growth through your holiday purchases at locally owned and independent businesses. From your Thanksgiving meal to your New Year’s celebration, are you ready to Shift Your Shopping?
Take the Shift Your Shopping pledge to shift at least 10% of your holiday purchases from non-local businesses to locally owned businesses. You can take the pledge at the Shift Your Shopping Launch Party on October 29th or online. “I think it is important to support efforts like Shift Your Shopping because every little bit helps in a small business,” shared Tim Pipp, owner of Beeze Tees Screen Printing in Keene. “We are a close-knit community and if we can turn a few people to shopping locally it impacts the community in a bigger way.”
What are the bigger impacts that Tim is talking about? When you spend your dollars at locally owned retail businesses in the Monadnock Region four times more money returns to our local economy compared to chain retailers. Spend a dollar at an independent business and 62 cents returns to our local economy, spend it at a chain store and 13 cents returns.
The money that returns recirculates through our economy, generating ripple effects that create new 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.
Shift Your Shopping includes our signature Plaid Friday Event on November 25th, the day after Thanksgiving. Citizens wear plaid to show their support for our local economy. Independent businesses serve as Plaid Friday Hubs, acting as Shift Your Shopping ambassadors while taking photographs of shoppers for our Plaid Friday Collage.
“I love Plaid Friday -- it’s so easy for businesses to participate,” said Shannon Hundley from the Hannah Grimes Center. “When I worked at Your Kitchen Store, I’d keep my cell phone close by and snap a photo of everyone in plaid. With their permission, I shared their photo on social media. Monadnock Buy Local gathered the photos into an inspiring online collage -- one that keeps growing year after year.”
Wear plaid on Friday, November 25th to show your support for our local economy and commitment to buying from locally owned businesses this holiday season. Stay updated on all the Plaid Friday happenings.
We’re also celebrating Small Business Saturday and Cider Monday. Stay tuned for more details about these two events.
This year's Shift Your Shopping and Plaid Friday sponsors include Badger Balm, Beeze Tees, Bellows-Nichols Insurance, Bergeron Construction, CC&D's Kitchen, Cheshire Horse, Gilsum Freedom Motors, Green Energy Options, Hannah Grimes Marketplace, Howard's Leather, Jeni Skin Care, Korvin Appliance, MB Massage Studio, Monadnock Food Co-op, Nest: Mother Child Home, One Stop Country Pet Supply, Paragon Digital Marketing, Shree's Kitchen, Steele's Stationers, Stonewall Farm, Ted's Shoe & Sport, Walpole Mountain View Winery, Walpole Valley Farms, The Works Bakery Cafe, and Yoga with Josephine.
Please join us by voting with your dollars this holiday season. Together we’ll create a true holiday gift to our community -- one that will keep on giving throughout the New Year.
The Local Crowd Monadnock - Keene, NH
