We’ve all heard it before — shop local and the money stays local.
We try to do it, but sometimes it is just so much easier to go online to Amazon, do a search, read a couple of reviews and buy. Now we don’t mind waiting a few days to receive our products because the shopping experience is effortless.
When we shop in town, we usually know where to go because we have been there before. If we need a pound of nails, we go to the hardware store, if we need some groceries we go to the grocery store — you get the point.
I was speaking with one of our clients here at Westerly Life, and we had a great conversation regarding shopping locally. He made some great points and I would like to share them with you.
We have all been part of, or at least heard of, a fundraiser happening in town. People who are running the fundraiser will inevitably have to approach local businesses for donations; either monetarily, products or gift certificates. This works out for the benefit of both parties, as the fundraiser raises funds, and the business raises awareness about itself.
This built a sense of community, and when someone in the community needed to help, everyone would pitch in — in anyway they could!
That model worked for many, many years, until the Internet started to take over retail. Searching for products and services has become so easy that we have forgotten that everything we need is located right in our back yard, and can be in our hands today!
Now let’s say that you do all of your shopping online and big box stores. Unfortunately, you hit a rough patch in your life and need a little bit of help. Who are you going to turn to? Amazon? Walmart? Ebay?
Finding a happy medium in life requires effort and work, and building and maintaining relationships is paramount to our success in the 100 or so years we have on this planet. We’re not saying to stop shopping online, what we are saying is to use the community as a tool in your toolbox. All of the small businesses in the Greater Westerly Area have an area of expertise. The owners have branded themselves as experts in what they do, and are more than willing to share that expertise with you.
Now, we are all extremely busy with our normal everyday lives and going from store to store just doesn’t work for us. Calling the stores we find online after a Google search doesn’t work for us either. Unfortunately, the local businesses suffer because they just can not compete with the search power of the Internet. All of that is changing.
When we set out to build a quality site for the Greater Westerly Area, shop local was foremost on our minds. Like many people, we are impatient. Waiting a whole two days for an item we ordered online would honestly piss us off. Then, when you add in the shipping, we could have bought the item in town and had it the same day — often for roughly the same price!
We scoured the Internet for software that was easy to implement and simple to use; all while being extremely powerful. The software we chose for our Greater Westerly Area Business Directory checked off every box on our “wants” list.
Part of our mission is to get every business in the Greater Westerly Area in our database and part of our network. Our search capabilities are built off of the extremely popular and powerful WordPress framework. The search is fast and accurate, and looks great on any device you are using.
Our search allows you to find what you are looking for and which local business will provide that for you. Our database is growing everyday, and so are the searches. As more and more people use the search, the more businesses will decide to use the platform to promote themselves.
If you are a business owner, or know someone who is a business owner, click here to see our offering. We think you will find it very reasonable for the return you will receive.
For the consumer, the Greater Westerly Area Business Directory will always be free and fast.
Regardless of what your beliefs are, we are still a community; a community needs to be self-supporting. That requires work, and WesterlyLife.com is making that work much, much easier.
Making your search easier,
The Westerly Life Team
