It's easy for me to preach "shop local" from my blogger's perch in Manhattan. While many companies are headquartered here in New York, boutiques, bodegas and mom & pop shops rule this roost. Aside from Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) -- c'mon, they're ubiquitous -- and maybe Rite Aid (NYSE: RAD), I'd have to hike a mile or so to reach the nearest publicly traded business.But committing my Christmas dollars to local businesses is a tradition I picked up from my ex back in North Carolina, and I think I'm all the better for it -- and all the better served.
For starters, you're far more likely to be wowed with the service from a small shop. At a local business, often you deal directly with the shop owners, who have an undeniable stake in your transaction. Because their equity and livelihood depend upon the repeat business of customers like yourself, you're worth more to the small business owner than the customer queued up at a crowded cash register at Circuit City (NYSE: CC) or Sears (NASDAQ: SHLD), and that value is evident in the transaction.
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