Publisher’s Letter: SUPPORT LOCAL!

There’s Always Something We Can Do.

Some of us have been financially very hard hit as a result of Covid-19. For example, our newspaper’s ad revenues are just now ramping up as businesses mandated to shutdown slowly reopen.

But for some lucky folks, their income has not been much affected, not just due to their industry but because they always had the option to work from home.

Another group whose income was not much affected is retired people on a fixed income who also benefited from receiving a stimulus check. For all of us, that check was sent first, to help us make ends meet and next, to increase our buying power to support our community.

As we return to the “new normal” please consider what you can do for the small businesses in your town. If sadly, due to the mandated shutdown, they are holding “going out of business sales”, BUY SOMETHING! Not only is that a way to thank them for their years of service to the community but your purchase, along with that of your neighbors, may enable them to open again in a new incarnation. For example, I was disappointed to see a “For Rent” sign in Fort Collins Old Town Square in the window of a store that had been there for years — The Right Card. But when I turned the corner and continued walking on Walnut Street, I found that The Right Card is now located in Walnut Creek just a few yards from their former location — and I, for one, am glad to know they are still a part of Old Town.

There are many ways we can get creative in spreading around our purchasing power that will help support local business owners and the people they hire — most often, our neighbors. For example, supermarkets were one of the industries for which the pandemic has been a bonanza. As people stocked up on so many items, we often walked in to find empty shelves — they couldn’t restock fast enough. So consider if your supermarket sells a household item but so does your local hardware store, buy it from the hardware store that remained open throughout this pandemic but that didn’t experience the bonanza that supermarkets did.

And when it comes to your favorite restaurants, perhaps you don’t yet feel comfortable with “dine-in” service. But if you want them to still be in business when you are ready to step out again, they need your support now. Please consider curbside pick-up.

Local businesses support the communities they serve in a myriad of ways. In addition to hiring local people that the distantly-owned big box stores also hire, they often procure and sell the products of other local businesses and the creations of local craftspeople. In contrast, the big box stores sell so many products from overseas (and that doesn’t put bread on the table for our neighbors.)

“Support local” whenever you can and you keep your dollars in your own community — especially at a time when we have all been challenged on so many counts — it matters!

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Blaine Howerton