TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – Small businesses and shoppers are making their cases for staying local as you check off your holiday gift shopping list.
Laura Meade prefers to buy most of her clothes at Prairie Trading Co. when she can.
Meade is among a decreasing number of people opting to shop in person at all for the holidays.
The National Retail Federation predicts that most consumers will do their holiday shopping online.
“When you go online or go to box stores, so often you’re finding that it’s the same thing if you’re here or across the country, you’re going to find the exact same thing,” says Meade. “When you go to these small, local stores you find that there’s a lot of very uniquely curated items and it’s just a lot of fun, you know, to see what you find.”
Nearby at The Linen Tree, store owner Kelly Schuster highlights the attention to detail she puts into her inventory.
“We go to market, we go to Dallas, we go to Atlanta several times a year, so we have a lot of specialty items, you see things you won’t see in other big box stores,” said Schuster.
She adds that dollars spent locally generally stay local.
They emphasize that the community at Brookwood sets them apart from major retailers.
“We know a lot of them by name, we know each other’s stories, I mean it’s just fun, it’s like a family.”
“Right here it’s like a tiny community, I love coming here every day,” Says Anne Smith, who works at Prairie Trading Co. “I know most of our customers by name and they know me, too.”
Meade senses a shift in people’s shopping priorities- one she hopes will ultimately benefit local businesses.
“I think more and more people are leaning in that direction, of looking toward looking at quality and uniqueness rather than just quantity,” she said.
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